Unexpected Interruption
by sapphire11224
Summary: We all had heard of the group of boys who fell in love with Miki when she was in junior high, but did you ever wonder who were they? What secrets are Miki and her friends hiding from everyone?Full Summary Inside. Please READ AND REVIEW!
1. Summary

Unexpected Interruption 

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy nor the songs being sung. The only things I own are the characters I created.

Summary: We all had heard of the group of boys who fell in love with Miki when she was in junior high, but did you ever wonder who were they? After the concert Yuu, Satoshi, and Kei had performed, everyone meets some old friends of Miki, Meiko, and Ginta. What secrets do they know about Miki that everyone else, including her best friends, doesn't know? And who is the mysterious boy, who Miki loved before even meeting Ginta, and what is his connection with Yuu's girlfriend?


	2. Ch1Miki's Secret

Ch1-Miki's Secret

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy

During the applause Matsuura Yuu, Miwa Satoshi, a junior and senior of Toryo High School, and a substitute pianist, Tsuchiya Kei (a sophomore friend of Miki) received for the concert, Sakuma Suzu came out from behind the stage with a bunch of roses to give to Yuu. At that moment, Yuu reached down to receive the flowers, but the thirteen-year-old brunette model pulled the flowers to the side, lifted her head up and kissed the blonde teenager on the lips. The brown-eyed blonde was shocked to see Suzu kiss him, even though she knew perfectly well that Yuu already have a girlfriend.

Koishikawa Miki and Akizuki Meiko, two juniors of the same high school, stood there behind the curtains as they watched Suzu kiss Miki's boyfriend. Everybody stared at them in shock as well, some confused and others speechless. Miki couldn't help but stare in shock, as the model didn't move away. Sitting from where the audience were, Suou Ginta sat next to Suzuki Arimi with his cousin, Rokutanda Tsutomu, sitting on her other side; all three of them stared at Arimi's former crush with shocked and stunned looks portraying in their faces and eyes.

Miki stared at Yuu and Suzu and her eyes began to overflow with tears; she was about to turn around when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Do you guys mind getting a room? It's not right for you to kiss in public like that."

Miki and Meiko peeked from behind the curtains to see a blond man, about their age, with thin reading glasses standing in front of the stage, his bangs covered his forehead and the top of his blue eyes. His hands were tucked into his black jeans pockets as his red long sleeved shirt wasn't tucked in.

Suzu took a step back from Yuu and stared at the man who interrupted her romantic moment with the man of her dreams. She was about to retort back to him when four more guys walked up to him.

There were two of them are brunettes with one wearing sunglasses, concealing his black eyes, the other with green eyes; they were pushing a small portable staircase, but they were too busy looking around and kept on knocking the staircase against the chairs lined up in the auditorium. They both wore the same blue jeans and a black shirt, except the one with sunglasses had short sleeves and the one next to him had long sleeves. The other two was a black haired man with dark blue eyes and a green-eyed blonde carrying a huge suitcase. The ebony haired teen wore a white t-shirt with a light blue jacket over it with green cargo pants and his blonde friend actually wore something much more classier: beige dress pants with a white buttoned up shirt with long sleeves.

They followed the two brunettes, taking their time walking towards the stage while the two brunettes impatiently leaned the staircase against the stage and quickly ran up the steps to search the crowd. The remaining teens followed them shortly. Still searching the audience, the one with sunglasses shouted to the blonde wearing glasses, "You are so dead, Yamato. You said that our model is here in this building and I don't see her anywhere."

"She is here, Arashi," Yamato said, pushing up his glasses as he searched the dumbstruck audience with his blue eyes. "Today is the Toryo High School's festival and I specifically saw her enter this building."

Shaking his head, the last brunette taunted, "Arashi, you shouldn't jump into conclusions like that. Maybe she is here, demo she's keeping quiet until she feels like speaking."

"Keisuke, can you do me a favor?" Arashi asked. When the teen nodded his head, Tetsuya shouted at the top of his lungs, echoing the screaming words, "Shut up!"

Suzu hopped over to Yuu's side and clung onto his arm and asked, "Are you talking about me?" All five male teenagers turned to Suzu and just stared at her. "You said that you're looking for a model and I am one."

A raven-haired man smiled and said with an apologetic tone, "Gomen (Sorry), kiddo, demo we're looking for a different model, one who is in high school, not junior high." His blue eyes then glistened mischievously as he added with a nonchalant tone, "Not to mention she is much more kawaii (cuter) than you."

He must have said that a little too loud because from every adult to every student gasped along with Suzu. It must've been a first time in history that someone had mentioned that there was a girl who is much more cuter than the famous young model, and the fact that she goes to this very school where the festival was taking place.

"Shingo, that's very mean of you. The nicest way you could of rephrased it was that Sakuma Suzu is second in the world," the last teen said. He opened the suitcase and took out a laptop. He set up the portable computer and made sure everything was in place. He waved his hand, motioning people in the back of the room to come up; a group of adults walked up to the stage down the middle aisle with packages in hands. They dropped the supplies down on the stage and left to get some more items.

Shingo shook his head anxiously and inquired, "Don't you mean she's third in line, Ryu?" Tetsuya looked at him and asked who the first two was. Smiling happily, he replied in a sure tone, "Our young model is first and her best friend is second."

Suzu, Yuu, and Satoshi stared at the uninvited concert crashers as all of them nodded their heads in agreement. Yuu was about to asked whom they were talking about when Miki ran towards the center of the stage. "Anaki! (big brother!)" she shouted happily while she ran to the glasses wearing blonde. She hugged Yamato tightly as she breathed in the scent of fresh flowers from the park on his jacket.

Now it was everyone else's turn to switch their shock towards Miki and Yamato when Yamato hugged Mimi back. "See, told ya she's here," he said, turning to his friend. Miki released him and smiled at the four guys as she waved at them. Pushing her head down gently, he scolded, "Why didn't you come out when we were talking about you?" He motioned two adults to bring a huge box up onto the stage.

Miki pushed his hand off her head, stuck her tongue out and complained, "Not my fault, you didn't even mention my name; you just kept on repeating the word 'model'." She turned to the familiar group of people, who serves the son of a well-known director, brought up a large suitcase and a small table. She watched with interest as Ryou's servants had set everything on the stage and went back out to get the last few materials.

Shingo smirked, he walked over to her, and lifted Miki up in the air as if she was a little girl; while she begged him to put her down, and he said playfully, "You should've known that we were talking about you. Who else could we have been talking about when you were our little model?" Miki glared at him as Yamato asked Shingo to put her down.

Yuu just stared at the happy reunion as everyone was laughing while Miki was pounding Shingo for lifting her up. "Miki was a model? Strange, I never heard of that from her, Akizuki, Suou, or anybody else," he thought. He was shocked to find out only about that information right now since Miki would always tell people about everything, instead of keeping things inside of herself, like him.

Suzu was shocked as well to hear that Miki had once been a model. "Miki-san was a model? I find that pretty hard to believe; Miki-san may be kawaii, but she's definitely not what I call beautiful." Suzu frowned as she watched Meiko take a step towards them to say hello.

Keisuke and Arashi saw Meiko and waved at her. "Akizuki Meiko-chan! It's been a while, how are you?" Arashi inquired. He stretched out his hand and they shook hands while Meiko talked with the friends she had in junior high with Miki.

Miki soon noticed that Yuu and Suzu were staring at them as if waiting for an explanation. Her brown eyes then spied Kei, a person she made friends with considering that they work at the same part time job together. She motioned everyone outside of the reunion to come closer so she could introduce everyone. "Anaki," Miki called; when Yamato turned to her, she smiled and said, "I want you to meet some people."

"Minna, this is Tsuchiya Kei-kun, we work together at an ice cream store," Miki said, pointing to a quiet looking guy and then she moved towards Yuu and Suzu. "This is Sakuma Suzu-chan, she's a famous model, of course you guys would know that, and Miwa Satoshi is her cousin. This is Matsuura Yuu..."

"Suzu-chan's boyfriend?" Yamato said. Shocked that he thought that, Miki denied it quickly but Yamato pointed out, "If they're not going out, then why did they kiss a few minutes ago?" Silence was his only reply making Yamato realize that he said something wrong, so Yamato apologized quickly.

Miki shook her head and corrected, "He's actually my step-brother." She smiled and continued with the introductions, "This is Yugasa Ryu-chan, his papa is a famous director and his mama is an award winning actress and singer. Those two are Lee Keisuke-kun and Kou Arashi-kun, they're cousins, but they act more like brothers; their moms are sisters who work together in a restaurant and their fathers are both firefighters that work together too. Higaisha Shingo-san is the son of a mom who owns a stationery store that is really popular with girls at the nearby mall. And this is anaki, Orihara Yamato; he's the son of two fashion designers that work for a famous clothing brand company."

After introducing everybody to each other, a sad look was on her face like she was remembering a certain memory of her past. Without even looking at her, all five guys somehow sensed that she was upset about something. Keisuke stared at Kei-kun and Yuu and saw that they both looked concerned about the sad brown eyes of the girl next to him. "Cheer up, kiddo, I know you miss him, demo he's not entirely gone, ya know," he said with his head not facing in her direction. Miki looked shock and turned to the teenager while he just smiled and added mockingly, "I could tell if you're sad about something without even looking at you." He moved his eyes towards Miki and added, "We all could."

Miki just stood there while Yamato walked over to the suitcase and he began to rummage through the contents as the servants placed a few instruments on the floor next to the keyboard, drums and guitars and they placed a swivel chair next to Yamato. Yamato took a few clothes out from the suitcase and gently pushed Miki backstage. "Chotto matte, anaki! (Wait a minute, big brother!) Nani yo? (What are you doing?)" Miki asked as she tried to stop walking.

"It's been three years since we've seen each other, Miki. And besides I have a present for you," Yamato said cheerfully. He turned to Ryu and continued, "And I bet Ryu is dieing to take another group picture, aren't you Ryu?"

"Hai (yes)," Ryu replied from his place in front of the laptop. Once Yamato and Miki left the stage, the typing blonde relaxed a bit and sighed in relief. "I'm glad to see that she didn't change one bit."

Yuu pulled his arm out of Suzu's clutch and asked, "Who are you guys and how do you know Miki?" He switched his gaze from the four guys to the place where Yamato and Miki had just left. "And another thing, why does Miki keep on calling Orihara-san 'anaki'? Despite the fact that I had only known Miki for almost nine months, I perfectly know for a fact that Miki never had an onii-chan (big brother) in her entire life."

Four pairs of eyes just stared at him with blank stares. Yuu's brown eyes narrowed in confusion until Keisuke asked, "You mean she never told you about what happened to Hi…" But before he could say anything, Meiko had jumped up from behind him and covered his mouth with her hands.

Why is Meiko covering Keisuke's mouth and what was he about to say? What the heck is Yamato doing with Miki behind the stage? Continue reading to find out.

Character Info

Orihara Yamato 

Birthday: November 30, 1976

Hair color: blonde hair

Eye color: light blue eyes, wears glasses

Hobby: assisting parents by creating designs for clothes, playing instruments and singing with his friends, and taking care of Miki in Hideki's place.

Family: mother, father, "little sister" (Miki)

Parents' jobs: father & mother- fashion designers

Bio: He met Tetsuya, and Keisuke in elementary school and Hideki, Ryu, Shingo in junior high. Hideki became the only person who understood him entirely thus they became best friends. He fell in love with Miki the moment Hideki introduced her to him, but he understood that Miki thought of him as only another older brother after Hideki. He was the one who started Miki's modeling job, but it was kept a secret because Miki was embarrassed and never thought herself perfect enough to be a model. He created most of the clothes Miki modeled in and was also in charge of applying make-up on her. After Hideki's death and Miki's rejection from Ginta, Yamato offered to allow her to call him anaki, or big brother. He thought that by allowing her to do so, he could abandon the unrequited love he has for her, but it didn't work since he still love Miki. However, Yamato wanted her to be happy with the man she'll choose so he kept his feelings hidden. Although they denied it, he thought that Yuu and Miki are actually prefect for each other and believes that Hideki would approve of Yuu being her boyfriend. He took part in the fan club Ryu created in junior high.

Yugasa Ryu 

Birthday: December 2, 1976

Hair color: blonde

Eye color: green

Hobby: recording important events around him, playing instruments and singing with his friends, taking pictures and recording Miki to create documents of her life as he know her, founder of Miki's fan club

Family: mother, father, little sister (Sakura), little brother (Kenji)

Parents' jobs: father-famous directormother-famous actress

Bio: Ryu was born into a rich family, being the eldest of three children. He dreamed of becoming a famous director like his father so he grew up recording things around him with his own camera at the age of seven. Ryu befriended Shingo, who became his best friend, when they were both in third grade. He first fell in love with Miki the minute he saw her, but he kept it a secret with many other boys. However, that didn't stop him from forming a small club at his house with several boys who also fell in love with Miki, along with his closest friends, Shingo, Tetsuya, Keisuke, and Hideki. When Miki started modeling for Yamato's folks with the clothes they designed, he was in charge of taking the pictures and changing them before they come out on magazines and in commercials. He was glad to see that Miki had found a boyfriend and that Yuu and Miki are actually happy in their secretive relationship.

Higaisha Shingo 

Birthday: July 22, 1976

Hair color: black

Eye color: dark blue

Hobby: drawing and painting designs for stationary paper to be sold in his mother's shop, playing instruments and singing with his friends

Family: mother

Parent's job: mother-owner of a well-known stationary store

Bio: His best friend is Ryu and he's probably the only person who could see past Shingo's anger to discover that he's upset, other then his mother and Miki. Shingo lived with only his mother because his father left when Shingo was in eighth grade, a week after breaking up with his girlfriend, Mizuka when he found out that she was going out with him because of his wealth. He thought of Miki only as a little sister when he first saw her, but as a few days passed after his father's departure and she helped comfort him through his rage, he slowly fell in love with her. He was glad to see that Miki had found a boyfriend and that Yuu and Miki are actually happy in their secretive relationship. He took part in the fan club Ryu created in junior high.

Lee Keisuke 

Birthday: October 17, 1976

Hair color: brown

Eye color: green

Hobby: playing instruments and singing with his friends, spending most of his time trying to calm Tetsuya down

Family: mother, father, aunt, uncle, cousin (Arashi)

Parents' jobs: father-firefightermother-waitress

Bio: His mother is the sister of Arashi's mom and the two of them married two firefighters who were good friends. Being older than Arashi by three months, he is usually the voice of guidance between the two. There will be times when he becomes enraged, but that's generally rare to see. Even though Keisuke and Arashi are both cousins, there is actually a brotherly relationship happening among them. Keisuke doesn't like the idea that every boy would be fighting for Miki's heart so he started the deal that nobody in the club would ask Miki out on a date. He also fell in love with Miki and decided to devote his life to help make her life happy with the person she chooses to be with. He liked Yuu the moment he saw him and believed that Miki had made a perfect decision. He took part in the fan club Ryu created in junior high.

Kou Arashi 

Birthday: January 20, 1977

Hair color: brown hair

Eye color: black, wears sunglasses

Hobby: playing instruments and singing with his friends, becoming angry when events are unpleasant and they involve Miki

Family: mother, father, aunt, uncle, cousin (Keisuke)

Parents' jobs: father-firefightermother-waitress

Bio: His mother is the sister of Keisuke's mom and the two of them married two firefighters who were good friends. He's always impatient and harsh when situations deal with Miki's well being. During the time, Miki was depressed about Hideki's death, Arashi was always angry and blamed the drunk driver, the paramedics, and even Hideki for Miki's suffering. Throughout the time when Miki became depressed because of Ginta rejecting her, Arashi was angry to see that a member of the fan club had just violated the rule of never making Miki cry. But Arashi soon realized that for Ginta to reject Miki's love was because of the deal they all made. He loves Miki and is very stubborn about who should be Miki's choice for a boyfriend, but he was glad to see that Yuu loves Miki very much and vise versa for her. He took part in the fan club Ryu created in junior high.


	3. Ch2Hideki and Crushes

Ch2-Hideki and Crushes

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy nor the song

"Don't tell Matsuura-kun about it unless Miki wants him to know," she hissed in his ear. She released him and said sternly, "Nobody is to tell anyone about the incident, understand?" Getting uncomfortable with Meiko being mad, four of them nodded their heads.

Yuu just stood there with an even confused look on his face. "So how do you guys know each other and why is Orihara-san and Miki acting like their siblings?"

"We were friends with Miki in junior high. We would usually hang out together at Ryu's mansion whenever we could," Shingo said as he looked up to see the wall at the back of the stage being covered by a huge white sheet. "Yo Ryu, nani yo? (What are you doing?)"

"If Miki wants to tell them about you know what and she becomes troubled, all I have to do is show it on the projection," Ryu replied. The typing blonde kept his eyes glued to the screen and asked, "Do you know someone named Suou Ginta, Matsuura-kun?"

"Suou? Yeah, what about him?" Yuu asked. 'What does Suou have to do with Miki?" he thought.

"Did he ever tell you what happened to Miki in ninth grade?" Ryu asked, for once, lifting his green eyes up to see Yuu pondering about the question.

Yuu shrugged his shoulders and asked, "Are you talking about the time when Miki wrote a letter to Suou to confess that she loved him in junior high?"

"HE TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?" Keisuke and Arashi shouted. The audience was pretty much silent but when the two cousins shouted, the sound of everyone jumping in their seats was heard.

"Minna (Everyone), don't shout, onegai (please)," Shingo pleaded. He walked towards Ryu and watched him type and a picture was downloading. "What in the world are you doing, Ryou?"

Instead of answering, Ryu watched as a small group of people set up a small projector in front of the stage. One of them waved to him and he waved back; everyone watched the rich teen press a button on his laptop. "Let's see if everything is all set now, shall we?" he inquired himself out loud.

"What picture are you downloading, Ryu?" Tetsuya asked. His friend shrugged his shoulders. They all kept silent as they watch a picture on Ryu's monitor appear on the wall. When the downloaded photograph appeared, the entire audience's eyes widened.

In the photograph contained a girl, about the age of twelve or thirteen, with a familiar face and smile; she had short brunette hair that ended right below her ears and one of her brown eyes was opened, shining in happiness. She appeared to be wearing a blue dress with long sleeves and next to her was a boy. He was about the same age, with dark blondish-orange hair that stopped up to his ears and grows longer as it reached to the back of his neck; his eyes are closed so nobody could identify his eye color. He was wearing a white T-shirt and the pants he was wearing wasn't shown on the picture; the boy was shown hugging the girl with his arms around her shoulders from behind and he kissed her on the cheek.

Satoshi stared at the picture and pointed at it. "Koishikawa?" he asked. Yuu stared at Satoshi and then back at the photograph. "Ne (hey) Yuu, isn't that Koishikawa?"

"Miki?" Yuu whispered, then he widened his brown eyes and screamed, "That's Miki?" He turned to the four guys and saw them nod their heads. "If that's Miki, then who is that guy and why is he kissing her?" Yuu asked, trying to calm down. The brown-eyed blonde couldn't help but feel jealous to know that a boy had kissed his girlfriend in jr. high.

"BAKA! (Idiot!) You just made it more difficult for us to avoid mentioning Hideki!" Keisuke shouted, smacking Ryu on the back of his head.

"Who's Hideki?" Yuu asked with a slight tone of jealousy. Kei couldn't help but stare in shock to believe that Miki had ever had a boyfriend before Yuu; for a known reason, Kei felt that his envy might be more intense than Yuu's because Miki doesn't know how the sophomore feels about her. Seeing that they didn't hear him, Yuu repeated the question, "Who is Hideki?"

Shingo and Arashi jumped Keisuke and started to choke him. "Don't call Ryu that when you were the baka (idiot) who mentioned Hideki's name," his cousin shouted.

Just then Yamato walked back towards the stage and his blue eyes immediately saw the picture. "Okay, why is Miki's and you know whose photo up there?" he asked. He then turned to see Ryu rubbing the back of his head and Keisuke being choked by his cousin and friend. "DID you guys have another fight again?" he asked with a suspicious tone.

"Would someone please answer my question? Who is Hideki?" Yuu asked a little louder.

Yamato glanced at Yuu and turned to his four best friends. "How does he know about Hideki?" he asked in a clam voice. Staring at the entrance where Miki could come through for a quick second, he suggested, "You better close that program before Miki comes back. You know how emotional she could get, especially if it deals with Hideki."

Satoshi smiled and said, "You're not kidding; Yuu keeps on telling me that Koishikawa is a very uncomplicated girl, ne Yuu?" The light-colored-haired boy glared at the long dark blue-haired senior while he smirked at him with mirth dancing in his blue eyes.

Satoshi turned to Kei, who was still looking at the picture with a concentrated look in his green eyes, and asked, "Tsuchiya, you work with Koishikawa, do you think that she is simple?"

For the first time after the concert was played, Kei shrugged his shoulders and spoke. "I guess she could be," he trailed on. Kei placed his hands on his hips and sighed, "I could easily tell when she gets worried about something or if there's something bothering her."

"You got that right, Tsuchiya," Yuu said. He smiled at his girlfriend's co-worker, and for some unknown reason, Kei didn't looked at his way. "I wonder why he's so silent," Yuu said to himself, "He reminds me of myself before I met Miki."

"Well, since they just saw one of those moments Miki and Hideki spent together, I guess we have to spill everything out for them," Yamato said, interrupting Yuu's train of thought. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his shirt.

"Absolutely not! Miki won't ever forgive you if you tell Matsuura-kun," Meiko shouted. When she saw that Keisuke and Yamato were thinking about telling her best friend's boyfriend about the accident that devastated Miki's life three years ago, she decided to mention something that might change their minds. "If you tell them, I just might tell Miki how all of you actually felt about her in junior high."

Then everyone in the huge room saw the five boys visibly shake and froze in their places. They kept silent for the two long minutes and then Shingo said in a false nonchalant voice, "What are you implying, Meiko? That we have some special feelings for Miki when the only feelings we have for her is the same we would have for a friend or an imoto."

Happy to know that she found their weakness, Meiko grinned with a sly glisten in her brown eyes. "You can't play dumb with me, Shingo, I knew right away that all you guys liked Miki a lot more than you claimed." Meiko giggled when she heard Arashi's comment on how she has gotten a lot sneakier nowadays. She walked over to Yuu, who couldn't digest properly the conversation that's happening. "You're just lucky that Miki isn't here to listen to this discussion," she added.

"What are you talking about, Akizuki?" Yuu asked. Satoshi just looked at girl he wants as his girlfriend and was amazed to find out that she has a side that will do anything to make things go her way as his cousin, Suzu, admired Meiko's strategy to have her way in arguments. Kei remained quiet and ignored the conversation as he wondered what is happening to Miki; he kept in mind that these boys who claim to be only friends to Miki might also have crushes on her. Yuu, however, doesn't know how he should feel about his girlfriend's best friend, considering he doesn't understand what is actually going on between Meiko and the five boys.

"I'll never actually understand how Miki never realize or found out that you and the remainder of the guys in our classes had a crush on her." She shrugged her shoulders and Meiko continued, "I really don't blame her, considering that none of you guys went up to her and confess that you liked her."

Meiko watched as the five interrupters froze in their place and Ryu was trying to deny it, but Meiko could see a slightly red blush turning darker on their faces. "If what I said isn't true, then there is no need you to blush," she added, causing the five boys' faces to flush even more.

Meiko stopped talking and placed her hand under her chin in a thoughtful position. "Actually, there were only two boys that didn't have a crush on Miki, and that was Hideki and Shingo-san." Every eye landed on the black-haired teen as he cringed mentally at the attention given to him. "So why do you love her now?" Meiko asked Shingo, "I thought you already had a girlfriend in junior high."

"Yeah, I did had a girlfriend, a girl who said she loved me because of the amount of money my mom brings home every month," Shingo replied with a disgusted tone. When he saw that Meiko and everyone else was confused, he informed, "Miki just told you that my mom is the owner of a stationery store that's popular with the girls, ne?" He paused a bit and continued, "So every month, my mom brings home hundreds of dollars, and that's what attracted _her_."

While emphasizing the word her, Shingo eyed a photo, that replaced Miki's picture. In this picture was only one girl; she had short light indigo colored hair that stops about two inches above her shoulders. She had a light smile on her face that left a slightly sly glint in her lavender eyes.

"Who is she?" Satoshi asked, "She's kawaii (cute)."

Making an annoyed grunt, Shingo looked away and said, "That's Mizuka, don't worry, you could get her as your girlfriend if she knows that you're rich. The only thing that sparks her interest is money." Shingo walked over to the keyboard Kei played as a substitute for the concert and began to play a few random keys. "When I found out about it in eighth grade, I broke up with her and ran into Miki. At that moment, my brain wasn't functioning properly and she was the only one I could talk to at that moment."

"If you don't fell like telling them, I could play the video, Shingo," Ryu suggested. When he caught Shingo staring at him, he smiled with a guilty feeling in his body. "Gomen nasi (Sorry), demo (but) I was there when you ran into Miki at the park and, unfortunately, so was my camera." Instead of getting mad at Ryu for spying on him, Shingo nodded his head, signaling Ryu to play the video clip. Everybody watched the screen as a picture of a eightth grade Miki walking in the park came on.

_ "Kouhei, hold onto this camera, onegai (please)," Ryu asked to an old looking man walking next to him. His blonde hair turned to one side as he faced his butler and stared at him with jade green eyes._

_"Hai, Ryu-sama," the man replied. Ryu handed the camera to Kouhei and walked faster to catch up to Miki. The butler was in his late sixties and he already has gray hair with gray eyes to match. He watched as his master's son hurried over to his friend and thought about how wonderful it might be if his employer's son and Miki become more than just friends._

_The girl had short auburn brunette hair that ended up to her shoulders; her chocolate brown eyes stared ahead to the playground a few feet away from her. Miki stretched out her arms and asked, "Ryu-chan, do you know what nii-chan (big brother) is up to? He always seems to be busy right after school recently. When he's not with us, I don't seem to feel like practicing."_

_"Daijobu (It's alright), Miki, I'm sure Hideki has something really important to do. If you're not happy, just tell him; you know Hideki would do anything to cheer you up," Ryu said, trying to bring Miki's spirit back up with a smile on her face._

_Miki sat down on the swings and shook her head. Gently swinging back and forth, Miki declared, "Iie (No), it's alright, I don't want to be a burden for nii-chan." She laughed gently and continued in a carefree tone of hers, "I'm kinda getting used to it, besides nii-chan lives next door to me and we do walk to school together."_

_"Ryu-sama, it's time for us to go back home. Your parents expects you to be home by seven o'clock the latest tonight for the dinner party," Kouhei said._

_The blonde nodded his head and took the video camera form him. "Well, ja (see ya), Miki. See you at school."_

_Miki waved at him and Ryu and his servant turned around and walked away. After a few minutes of walking, Ryu remembered that he forgot to tell his friend something. "Kouhei, walk towards the car first. I'll catch up with you later, I forgot to tell Miki something," Ryu said._

_Ryu ran back towards the swings with his camera resting on his shoulder. When he got there, he saw Miki still sitting on the swings and reading a book. Miki stood up and began to walk away with her brown eyes still focused on the book. Just then a young back-haired boy ran towards Miki and accidentally knocked her on the ground. The boy didn't stop to apologize, but the collision made him change his running into a clumsy jog._

_Miki fell down hard on the ground; the pages of the book she was reading was crumbled and wrinkled and her book bag fell down next to the destroyed book. "Itai (Ow)," she whispered; she slowly got up and glanced at the ruined book. Miki screamed at the top of her lungs and immediately grabbed the book. "Oh no! Meiko is gonna kill me!" she shouted._

_Miki took the book and put it in her book bag. She turned to the boy who pushed her and shouted, "Hey! You shouldn't push people down and simply walk away like that. The least you could do was apologize or say, 'excuse me'! Are you listening to me? You should look at people when they're talking to you." Miki took a step forward right before the boy turned around and Miki gasped when she saw his face; the boy who had pushed her was Shingo and apparently he had tears coming down his cheeks. When Shingo saw Miki's shocked face, he immediately wiped his tears away._

_"Shingo-san, what's wrong? Daijobu? (Are you okay?)" she asked, her voice changing from being enraged to a soft concerning tone while Miki reached into a pocket and searched for a handkerchief. While she did that, Shingo unconsciously walked over to Miki with a blank look in his dark Prussian blue eyes. Once she got the handkerchief, Miki held out her hand with a light indigo hankie on it. "Here…"_

_Shingo's hand bypassed the hanky, grabbed Miki's outreached hand and pulled her into an embrace. Miki shrieked in surprise as she felt Shingo's arms wrap themselves around her waist and back. She whispered Shingo's name, but she didn't make any movement to have him let go. "I can't believe she did this to me, damn it," Shingo whispered. _

_As he hugged Miki closer to him, the incensed Shingo's shoulders shook, indicating that he was crying. Miki stared at the face hiding on her shoulder and whispered his name a little louder. Waking up from his daze, Shingo abruptly moved away from Miki. "Go…gomen nasi (Sorry), Miki. I…I wasn't thinking straight," Shingo said, rubbing his eyes._

_He waited for Miki to yell at him, like she usually does when a certain somebody hugs her without her permission, but it never came out. Instead her actions and words that came out of her mouth surprised him. Miki took her handkerchief and slowly wiped the tears still skiing down his cheeks. "Daijobu (it's alright). You're just upset about something and that causes you to not think straight." She laughed gently and said, giggling, "I should know, whenever I get emotionally upset, I would always hug nii-chan or any one of my friends or family member."_

_Shingo's face lightened up as he watched the smile on her face as she tried to cheer him up. "Arigato, Miki. It's getting late, so you better head home. Well, ja ne (See you later)." He turned around and started to walk away._

"_Do you want to talk about it?" Shingo froze in his tracks and slowly turned to face Miki. "You don't have to, if you don't feel like talking, demo (but)…nii-chan always said that if you're upset, it's best if you tell someone who'll listen. That way the pain you're feeling won't be as bad."_

_Shingo cracked a smile and asked, "You always go by Hideki's guidelines of life, don't you?" The brunette nodded her head and replied with the word always. The raven-haired teen sighed and said, "Well, since Hideki said so, I guess I have no choice, but to tell you."_

_They sat back down on the swings while Shingo started to talk about the girl he once loved and thought loved him back. Just when he was about to mention how he found out about the reason of her false love, his azure eyes started to get misty. Miki handed him her handkerchief and asked him to continue the story. Shingo went on about how he was somewhere deep in the park and he spotted Mizuka with a friend. He had accidentally listened in on how she told her friend the truth of how she really feels about him; he grew furious one he found out that she only pretended to be in love with him because of money._

"_I was so mad at her that I jumped out from where I was hiding and told her we're through. Mizuka tried to tell me that she was only joking, demo I wouldn't hear of it." Shingo heaved a heavy sigh and continued, "I just left her and then I ran into you. For some strange reason, I felt that you could help me."_

_Miki stretched her arms up in the air and stood up. Shingo shrugged his shoulders. "Call me crazy, demo I don't know why. When I saw you, I thought…that you were a tenshi (angel) Kami-sama (God) sent down here to comfort me." Shingo laughed as he rubbed his hand through his black hair and concluded, "Maybe I am insane."_

_Miki blushed lightly when she heard him call her an angel. "When you're done laughing, tell me if you feel any better," she wanted to know. Shingo looked down on the butterscotch colored sand on the base of the swings; after a short minute had passed, Shingo looked up at Miki and nodded his head with a light smile on his face. "Thought so, nii-chan is always right," Miki said._

_Shingo stood up and was about to walk away when he stopped, reached into the jacket's pocket and handed it to Miki. "I was about to give this to Mizuka, demo since we're through, I'll give this to you for listening." Shingo placed a long but thin white box in Miki's hands._

_Miki opened the box to see a beautiful yet simple bracelet. Miki was amazed as she studied the brown woven bracelet with small rose beads that are in different colors of red, white, and pink. "I know it's not anything fancy, considering I made it with my own two hands. Not to mention, I probably did a lousy…" Shingo began._

"_It's beautiful," Miki interrupted. Shingo looked at her as Miki put on the bracelet. "I don't think it matters if it looks expensive or not, but on who the person receives it from." Miki marveled at the bracelet and smiled at Shingo, whispering, "Arigato (Thank you)."_

_Shingo blushed as he stared at the gentle smile Miki shined at him. He imagined Mizuka's reaction if she received the bracelet; she would probably wear it once and hide it under the bed until the end of time. He heard Miki call out his name and realized that he had a blank but concentrated look in his eyes. Shingo smiled and ruffled Miki's short hair as she laughed lightly. "You best go home, Miki. It's almost seven o'clock," Shingo reminded._

_Miki nodded her head and ran off with her book bag in hand. She waved goodbye and headed towards back home. Shingo soon realized that he still has Miki's handkerchief; he smiled at Miki's eagerness to help people and that she was always going by Hideki's guidelines. "She's almost like a little kid, instead of acting like she's fourteen, she acts like she's seven years younger." _

_He turned around and said, in a light, wondering tone, "No wonder everybody she befriends either becomes a friend or, if it's a guy, falls in love with her. Wonder who's going to be her boyfriend since she has a whole classroom of suitors and many that's coming up." _

And with that last sentence, Ryu closed the playback. Everyone was speechless about what they had just witnessed. Shingo looked around at the group on the stage and asked Meiko, "Does that answer your question?" The curly haired brunette nodded her head slowly. "But to make the long story short, I didn't fall in love with her until she was there to comfort me for the second time." Meiko looked at Shingo for an explanation, but he quickly added, "I rather not to talk about it."

"What are we doing standing around here for?" Arashi shouted, catching everyone's attention, "We came here to have a great reunion after not seeing Miki in three years and give her a concert she'll never forget." Arashi smiled and suggested, "How about a small practice before Miki comes back?"

Shingo headed over to the keyboard, but Keisuke stopped him by shouting out his name. Shingo blinked and stared at him. "Why don't you sing that song "I Survived You" for Mizuka?" Shingo shrugged his shoulders and went to the mike as Yamato took over the keyboard. "Ryu, do you mind putting on the homemade music video you created for this song?"

"Hai (yes), no problem," the blonde walked over to his computer and began typing on his laptop. Yamato grabbed something from the suitcase in front of the keyboard and threw it at Shingo, who caught it and placed the small microphone next to his mouth and made it hang onto his ear.

"I would appreciate it if you get off the stage. There are some songs where we make Ryu's laptop play the music, so we could sing and perform at the same time," Arashi said as Keisuke ushered the previous band and friends off the stage, right before heading towards the guitar in front of Yamato.

Arashi smiled and said to the previous band members, "I hope you don't mind if we use your instruments." And without waiting for their answer, he thanked them and hurried over to the drums.

Ryu left the other electronic guitar alone and took out an acoustic guitar while Shingo brought the microphone Yuu sang with off the stage. He stood up straight and took a deep breath; his heart was pounding with a nervous anxiety and he waited as his friends began to play instruments and then he started to sing.

**(Shingo)**

"I see the picture clear now, and the fog has lifted.  
The wool you tried to pull over my eyes was clever.  
Yeah you're gifted.  
But you forgot to dot some I's, and cross some T's along the way.  
I'm better now despite you baby.  
I'm stronger these days.   
Stronger.

I survived the crash.  
Survived the burn.  
Survived the worst, yeah baby, but I learned.  
Survived the lies.  
Survived the blues.  
Almost killed me, but I survived the truth.  
And when you wrote me off like I was doomed.  
I survived you.

I can look in the mirror now.  
It's been a slow awakening.  
Haunted by a heart full of you, couldn't help mistaking.  
That you could ever care for anyone.  
Anyone but yourself. Hey.  
But you would have to have a conscious baby.  
Good luck I wish you well.

**(Together)  
I survived the crash.  
Survived the burn.**

**Survived the worst, yeah baby, but I learned.**

**Survived the lies.  
Survived the blues.**

**Almost killed me, but I survived the truth.  
And when you wrote me off like I was doomed.  
I survived you.  
**

**(Shingo)  
This heart has been torn in two.  
Cut and bruised.  
With too many bitter endings.  
I'll be damned if I have thoughts of you  
Rain on my new beginning.  
**

**(Together)  
I survived the crash.  
Survived the burn.**

**Survived the worst, yeah baby, but I learned.**

**Survived the lies.  
Survived the blues.  
Almost killed me, but I survived the truth.  
And when you wrote me off like I was doomed.**

I survived the crash.  
Survived the burn.

**Survived the worst, yeah baby, but I learned.**

**Survived the lies.  
Survived the blues.  
Almost killed me, but I survived the truth.  
And when you wrote me off like I was doomed.  
I survived you."**

("I Survived You" by Clay Aiken)

What a surprise! Imagine a boy Miki was closer to. And what is with Miki's old friends having crushes on her? Continue reading. Please send some reviews

Character Info

Tsukishiro Hideki 

Birthday: August 15, 1976

Hair color: dark blondish-orange

Eye color: light blue

Hobby: helping out in the neighborhood, playing the keyboard and singing with his friends, making sure Miki is happy Family: mother (Sakana), father (Tai), "little sister" (Miki) Parents' jobs: father-news reportermother-housewife 

Bio: Hideki's parents weren't able to have any children and had tried for about five years, giving up on that option, they decided to adopt Hideki. The Tsukishiros were Miki's first neighbors that she had met. She knew Hideki when she was born up until they were in ninth grade. When he became five years old, Miki's present was to become his little sister and she called him 'nii-chan' right after that day and she never called him by his first name again. Despite how close they were, Miki had never known that Hideki had cancer and was predicted to die before he could graduate from high school, but instead he died in ninth grade from a car accident, saving Miki's life in the process. Although he was part of Miki's fan club in junior high, he was known as one of the only few boys who never had a crush on Miki in junior high. He was also very popular in school with his classmates and teachers because of his eagerness to help others and because of his personality that makes him seem like an older brother to many people.


	4. Ch3Pain Leading to Love

Ch3-Pain Leading to Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy

Everybody was shocked to discover that these boys will probably put a much better concert than Yuu and the seniors of Toryo High School. Shingo didn't just stand there while he sang; he moved around the stage, shifting his arms and legs. Behind him, the projection showed scenes from the movie before, portraying parts of Mizuka and then to Shingo seeking comfort from Miki. During the chorus, his friends also sang along, making everyone realize that these boys are truly gifted, for they all could sing as well as play an instrument. It almost seems they're all prepared and had practiced for this specific concert.

An applause erupted and all five boys gave a bow. Yuu and Satoshi had to admit that Miki's old friends had done a magnificent job, possibly much better than their own. Suzu was amazed to find out that for a very plain girl who's not very beautiful, Miki has a lot of great friends: a beautiful best friend, a gorgeous boyfriend, a talented pianist for a co-worker and "friend", and skilled musicians and singers for old friends.

Meiko stood there up close to the stage and watched as Shingo stared at the last picture where Shingo was in Miki's embrace and, instead of being in the park, they're in someone's bedroom. "Shingo-san, I don't remember seeing that scene before," Meiko said.

Shingo smiled and said, "That was what caused me to actually realize that I was in love with her." Faintly, they heard Miki calling to Yamato; after Yamato gathered a huge box and pushed the package backstage, Shingo sighed and cursed underneath his breath. "But finding out my feelings towards Miki had a price to pay. And that was otou-san."

"Your tou-san? What happened to him?" Yuu asked as he took a step closer to the staircase.

Shingo didn't answer so Ryu did it for him. "His father left his mother and him a few days after he broke up with Mizuka. Shingo was pretty violent when he found out, and he wouldn't come out of his room, so I called Miki over to talk to him." Shingo grabbed the swivel chair and sat down quickly; Ryou watched Shingo's bottom lip stick out and his eyes narrowed, he almost resembled a little boy throwing a tantrum.

"Why don't you show them, Ryu? Demo if you don't feel like it, just tell them what my pathetic otou-san did to us and how okaa-san suffered." Ryu looked at Shingo as he took a piece of drawing paper and began to draws a new design for a stationery packet. Ryu could tell that Shingo was very angry at the mention of his father, just by watching him press his pencil down very hard on the paper, causing it to break.

Not wanting to upset his friend even more, Ryu walked over to his laptop to put on another movie based on Shingo's anger. "I hope Miki doesn't come in to see Shingo upset again. She'll probably hug him if he ends up crying, and if she has a boyfriend, he'll get jealous and possibly break up with her. Then Miki will end up crying, and to make things worst, every guy from our eighth grade class, and if they don't have a girlfriend, appear," Ryu thought to himself. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the laptop's screen and didn't move.

"Yo, Ryu, what's wrong?" Keisuke shouted. Ryu snapped out of his trance and stared at Arashi's cousin. "You're just standing there with a blank look on your face. What's wrong?"

The director's son just smiled and replied, "I was just thinking, that's all." Ryu began typing on his computer and opened up a folder. Yuu, along with everyone else, stared at the projection and was in shock to find out at least a hundred files laid hidden within that folder. Ryou accidentally clicked on the right arrow and on everyone's left side of the projection, there was a view of what the file is.

The view was a bit similar to the first picture of a boy kissing Miki, but it was also in a way different. This time, Miki was kissed the boy on the cheek and it seemed like she was hugging him from the side. Suddenly Yuu remembered that nobody had answered his question, involving the exact boy from the two photographs.

"May someone tell me who Hideki is and his relationship with Miki, onegai?" Yuu asked. The male teenagers on the stage looked at each other and muttered softly, causing Yuu to strain his ears to hear what they're saying. "Nani? What are you saying?"

Before any of his friends could reply, Ryu quickly clicked on a file showing an altered but comparable movie from before. Yuu narrowed his eyes. "Why does it seem like they're avoiding that question whenever I ask about Hideki? Akizuki doesn't seem like she'll answer my question," Yuu thought. He turned his head towards Meiko and slowly changes his attention to the four boys on the stage. "I wonder what happened to cause them to be so secretive. Mental note: ask Miki when she comes back out."

Yuu knows that he shouldn't but something in his mind is begging to know about this private relationship between his girlfriend and Hideki. He tried to tell himself not to be jealous because Meiko said that Hideki was never in love with Miki, but Yuu thought back to the two previous photos of someone kissing Miki or being kissed by her. He didn't have time to think about the photo when he heard voice form the projection, so he stopped thinking and looked up.

_"I'm actually surprised at you, Shingo," Ryu's voice said as he held the camera tightly on his shoulder and focused it on the teen next to him. "You were hugged by a honto kawaii girl and you still don't have a crush on her."_

_Shingo sighed and corrected his friend, "I hugged her, Ryu, not the other way around. And why should I have a crush on Miki because of what happened?" Ryu stood still as Shingo continued to walk ahead. "It's almost like you're implying that every girl I hug, I end up having a crush on."_

_"How can you NOT have a crush on…"_

_"Here we are," Shingo interrupted. Ryu turned to the two-story blue house Shingo was staring at. "We're home," Shingo said as he ran up the steps and opened the door with Ryou and his camera following him. "It's been a while since you've see my okaa-san, this time you might mistaken her as an adult version of Miki. She has the same length of brown hair just like Miki now."_

_Ryu entered the house and they both took heir school shoes off and placed on the sandals. Ryu looked around the home and was shocked to see that despite how much money Shingo's mother brings home, they chose to live in a small home, compared to his mansion. "Yo! Ryu, why do you still take your camera every where you go?"_

_"How else can I become a famous director like otou-san? He said I should practice while I'm still young and maybe I can become his successor." Shingo stared at Ryu with a strange look, causing him to get confused. "Nani?"_

_Shingo shook his head and walked into the kitchen. "Okaa-san! Tadiema!(I'm home)" Not hearing any reply, Shingo shouted, "Okaa-san!" a little louder, trying to get his mother's attention. Just before he took a step into the cooking area, he heard a loud crash. Worried that something had happened, the two friends rushed into the kitchen where they saw Shingo's mother standing in front of the sink with her hands shaking and on the floor were the cracked pieces of a broken plate she must've dropped._

_"Okaa-san, daijobu?(are you all right?)" Shingo asked rapidly, quickly achieving the broom and dustpan from a small nearby broom closet. He picked up the pieces and dumped it into the garbage can. "Okaa-san, what's wrong? Why don't you sit down?" Shingo suggested; he led his shaken mother to a chair and handed her a cup of water._

_"Okaeri-nasai. (Welcome back) What are you doing at home so early? I thought you were at a friend's home for a meeting or something?" his mother said. Ryu studied Shingo's mother and realized that she was as how Shingo had described her. He was at first shocked to see Miki looking like she was in her early thirties, but he soon realized that she wasn't the person whom he is in love with._

_"It was cancelled, due to the girls' tennis club practice," Shingo said absentmindedly. His mother looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face; Shingo waved his both hands after realizing his mistake. "It's nothing," but he dropped both his arms and looked at his mother seriously. "Do you want me to call otou-san from work?"_

_After hearing his question, Shingo's mother stood up quickly and said abruptly, "NO!" Her son and his friends stared at her with shocked looks. She glanced down and said sadly, "He won't come…" her voice not even trying to betray her depressed mood._

_Shingo noted the sadness, so he asked, still not getting what his mother is trying to tell him, "What if I tell otou-san that…" he stopped talking when he watched his mother shake her head slowly with tears coming out of her eyes. Shingo finally realize what his mother is hesitantly trying to tell him; he clenched his fists tightly and said quietly but angrily, "He did it, didn't he?" _

_Ryu looked at his friend to see that Shingo was beginning to act like a volcano, all fired up and ready to erupt. Shingo looked at his mother and shouted, "Otou-san left us, right?" Without his mother answering, he could tell from her dazed expression, he was correct. "BAKA OTOU-SAN! (STUPID DAD!)" Shingo yelled in anger, "I HATE HIM!" And with that, he ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs to the second floor and into his bedroom._

_Ryu's eyes just stared at the already gone Shingo and then to his friend's mom, not comprehending on what was happening. "Gomen nasi, if I came during at bad time, demo can you tell me what is going on?"_

"_My husband, Shingo's otou-san, told me today that he'll be leaving. Normally, I wouldn't mind because of his job, he was always traveling, demo…" Ryu watched as she brought her hands to her face and began to cry. "Today he said that he wouldn't be coming back ever again, not even to check on us." The blonde watched in anger as she went on about him no longer feeling like he loves her and found someone else who has taken her place. _

"_I didn't want Shingo to find out because whenever he's upset, not just anybody can calm him down and he's a very sensitive boy; he gets hurt easily demo many people never notice that. I was hoping to just lie to him about his otou-san, demo I can't. I can't just lie to my own son like that." Mrs. Motomiya cried harder at the thought of her son suffering from this a whole lot more than she is._

_Ryu couldn't help but feel pain for this young mother and her son. He excused himself and ran out of the kitchen and took out a cell phone; Ryu dialed in a few numbers and held it to his ear as he hoped that the person he's calling is home. "Moshi moshi, Miki? It's Ryu, can you come over to Shingo's house, right away?" He paused for a minute and said rapidly, "No, nothing's wrong; it's just that I think he could use your comfort right about now." He was about to continue when he heard a loud crash coming from the volcano's eruption. "You better come here quickly before he blows up the entire house." And with that, he hung up and hoped that Miki makes it over in time._

_Ryu could hear the loud cursing and sighed. "This isn't fair for the poor kid. First his breakup with Mizuka and now his father, why is this happening to him?" he asked silently._

_Ryu waited only for a minute when he heard the doorbell ring, he walked over to open the door and there stood Miki breathing very hard, still in her school uniform. "That was quick," he said, he then glanced down at her clothes; he lifted up his right eyebrow and asked, "Why are you still wearing your school uniform?"_

_Miki walked into Shingo's house and took off her school shoes. "I just came home when the phone started ringing. Since you told me to be here quickly, I didn't have time to change." Ryu looked down at Miki's uniform and passively studied her form, but lifted his head up quickly when he heard Miki ask him, "So why did you ask me to get here so fast? Where's Shingo-san?"_

_Ryu quickly took his eyes off the green blouse and skirt and looked into her eyes. "That's why I called you. Shingo's otou-san just left both Shingo and his okaa-san this afternoon after school for another woman."_

_Miki was stunned to find that out; she never actually believed that someone who was so nice and gentle would just leave his wife and son just because he fell out of love with his wife. She stared at Ryu with a hand covering her mouth, but then the thought of the son who is probably suffering right now made itself known again. "Where is Shingo-san now?" she asked him._

"_In his room, why?" Miki didn't hear his question, the minute she heard Shingo's location, she pounded up the steps with Ryu trying to catch up to her._

_Miki stopped at the top of the steps and Ryu leaned against the railing, trying to catch his breath. He looked up to see Miki walk up the door in front of her and right before she turned the knob, Ryu asked her, "How can you still remember which door leads to Shingo's room? You haven't been here for almost four months." _

_The fourteen-year-old girl looked at him and pointed at a sign written in bold letters, **Shingo's Room, Knock First Onegai**. Ryu smiled nervously as Miki opened the door slightly. Just before she could open it any more, a glass bottle was flung at the door, shattering it into pieces. _

_One of the broken pieces landed outside of the bedroom and scratched Miki's hand. "GET OUT! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Shingo shouted from behind the door._

_Miki winced in pain from the glass shard and partly from the hurting tone of Shingo's voice. Ryu rushed over to the door and swiftly slammed it shut; he apologized to Miki and saw that on the back of her hand, right below the thumb, there was blood coming out of the wound. He rapidly rushed to the bathroom and came back with a huge wad of toilet paper; he dabbed the wound gently and within seconds, the dry, white toilet paper became a moist red paper soaked in blood. As he ran back into the bathroom to throw it away, Miki's brown eyes began to give birth to tears that had once lain dormant._

_Ryu wrapped his silk green handkerchief around Miki's hand. When he looked up, he was in shock to see Miki in cry; at first, he thought that his crush is crying because of the injury Shingo absentmindedly created, but Miki denied it. "I'm not crying because of this injury, even though it does hurt a lot," Miki assured him. Sadly she turned to the door where she could hear the cursing and crashes from items he's throwing around stop, now she could only hear the faint sounds of his sobbing. "I'm crying because Shingo is in so much pain and I can't do anything to help him."_

_Ryou sighed as he placed a band-aid onto the wound and leaned against the wall. Miki swiftly grabbed the doorknob and before he could stop the brunette, this time, she opened it all he way. Ryu duck behind the wall, in case Shingo throws another object at them, and Miki remained where she's standing. Shingo was sitting on his bed and once he heard the door open, he reached for the nearest object, which turned out to be his pillow. But when he saw Miki standing in his doorway with a sad look of pity in her eyes, he dropped the pillow on the bed and hastily wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. _

_Miki called out his name and took a step forward to see that his room was entirely ransacked due to his anger. "Gomen, Miki, demo can you please leave? I wish to be alone onegai," Shingo said with his brown eyes turning red from him rubbing his tear-shedding eyes. He turned his head away from Miki, thinking that she would do what he asked._

_Miki just stood there and stared at her heart-broken friend. She could feel the depth of his sorrow, the pain still intact from when he broke up with Mizuka not too long ago. Miki knew that she should respect Shingo's wishes and just leave him alone, but Ryu did say that he needs her help; Shingo is in agony and unless she does something, the throbbing pain in his heart will only grow larger until he does something he'll regret. The young teenager took a step forward and walked quickly over to Shingo and sat down on the bed next to him._

_First Miki placed a hand on his shoulder, and then she shocked everyone by hugging Shingo. She laid Shingo's head on her shoulder and whispered, "Daijobu, Shingo-san. Just let it all out, I'll always be there if you need me."_

_Shingo felt Miki's hand combing through his hair soothingly and her quietly pleading him to just cry his sadness all out. At first, Shingo didn't make any movement, but then he bowed his head down to bury his face in Miki's shoulder, he wrapped his arms around her waist and started crying. Miki remained where she was and just continued to give her distressed friend every ounce of comfort she could give him._

_Ryu stared at his two friends and then toward the ceiling. He could hear Miki humming a melody of a song Shingo, himself and the others sang to her when she was upset. Ryu looked back at Miki and Shingo to watch the raven-haired boy slowly released his tight grip on Miki and his crying seemed to have stopped slightly._

_Ryu walked into the ransacked room and whistled as he stared at the room in amazement. Located on the floor, were the pieces of the glass bottle Shingo had thrown at the door when Miki first opened it. Next to his bed was a torn picture of Shingo and his father a few years ago; the photo was torn down the middle, separating his picture away from his father. There was a hole in the wall where Shingo had punched for an estimated two minutes. The books he placed a lot of pride into of keeping in top condition were thrown out of the bookcase and covered the floor._

_Ryu left his camera on the desk to record Shingo and his angel while he picked up the books on the floor and stacked them up next to the window. He took special care to pick the broken bottle pieces and throwing them into the garbage. Ryu sighed when he stared at the wall, maybe he could hire a company to fix it. Ryou looked around the room and believed that Shingo could finish cleaning up his own room._

_The humming stopped so Ryu stared at Miki to only find out that Shingo had fallen asleep in Miki's embrace, due to the exhaustion and stress caused by his anger. Shingo still laid his head on Miki's shoulder and his arms are still around her waist, but his grip wasn't as tight as before. Miki smiled gently as she laid Shingo back on his bed. Ryu watched as Miki took matters into her own hands and treated Shingo as though she's a mother of a young child. She tucked Shingo into bed, when she leaned over to kiss Shingo on the forehead, Miki felt him stir a bit._

"_Let's let him rest," Miki whispered to Ryu. She was about to leave the bedside when Shingo moved his hand and clutched Miki's. Alarmed, Miki quickly turned to him and saw Shingo still sleeping, but he held onto Miki's hand tightly like he's having a nightmare and wouldn't let go._

_Ryu walked over to Miki until he stood by her side. "Why don't you stay with him? You want me to bring you some tea?" Miki nodded her head and sat down on the bed with Ryu staring at her intently before walking out of the bedroom. Ryu leaned on the wall at the doorway and listened to Miki hum a different melody this time as she rubbed the hand Shingo held tightly onto. _

Ryu then ended the movie and sighed. "Shingo still claimed that he continued to think of Miki as a friend, demo as each day went by, Shingo began to fall in love with her," Ryu said. He smirked and teased his blushing friend, "And with Miki always worrying about him and giving Shingo _her_ smile, I really don't blame him really."

"Shut up, Ryu," Shingo said as he stood up. But that didn't hide his blush as he remembered Miki asking if he was feeling okay the next day and the smile she gave him when he told her that he was fine.

Despite the fact that he was falling in love with her, he couldn't tell her his feelings or ask her out, because of the deal every boy in the class made and because she was in love with someone else. Of course, that was a rumor all the boys in Miki's fan club feared, but the biggest fear was that the person she might be in love with is a very close friend of theirs.

Yamato quickly walked out from back stage and replaced everything back into the box and left it in the middle of the stage. "Hey guys! Let's show them some of our model's hidden talents. How about letting her perform?" he asked.

"All right!" Keisuke and Arashi shouted. The two cousins gave each other high fives and hurried over to their places with Keisuke with the guitar and Tetsuya behind the drum set. "What song should she perform?" Keisuke asked Tetsuya, who shrugged his shoulders in reply.

Yamato walked over to Arashi and whispered in his ear. The brunette nodded his head and the blonde held up his right hand with his pointer finger up. Almost as if they're speaking in a secret hand language that only they can understand, everyone in the group went to their instruments; instead of going to the front of the stage like before, Shingo stood by Yamato's side and took a violin from a pile of extra music utensils they brought in earlier.

"Hey Yuu, is it just me or do they seem to know a lot about Koishikawa?" Satoshi whispered to his best friend. Yuu continued to stare at the boys who were old friends of Miki and who secretly had a crush on her. Satoshi shrugged his shoulders and went on, "I think it's just me demo they seem to know almost about her entire life, possibly even the secrets Akizuki doesn't even know about."

Suzu clung onto her cousin's arm and complained, "Onii-chan? Why do they call Miki-san a model? And why do they say she's much more kawaii than me?" Satoshi couldn't answer her questions, so Suzu turned to Yuu. "Yuu-sensei?" But it seems like both high school students couldn't answer her questions, not even Akizuki Meiko, Miki's best friend since junior high and beholder of Miki's secrets.

"I wonder where Miki is right at this moment, "Yuu said softly. Kei's green eyes stared at the man behind the keyboard and wondered about his close relationship with Miki. Yuu was about to ask about Hideki one more time when the sound of running footsteps with high heels was heard and someone wearing a gray woven cloak with a hood came out.

Just who is this mysterious figure coming and where is Miki anyway? Anyone know the answer, if you do, I'll congratulate you. Just what does Yamato mean by someone performing? Continue reading and send some reviews.


	5. Ch4Mikia model and a singer?

Ch4-Miki…a model and a singer?

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy nor the songs

Whispering about this mysterious stranger began to go around the auditorium. It would seem that nobody knows whom this person since her face was concealed in the hood's shadows. "One…two…three…" Keisuke counted and then all five played the instruments they held.

"**Hmm…hmm…** **I get wings to fly** **Oh, I'm alive…"**

The stranger sang those words, and once she said that last word, two hands reached upward to the hood and pulled it back. The mysterious person is Miki and by some cause, her appearance changed almost completely, shocking everyone gazing his or her eyes on her. From her parents, schoolmates, and even Suzu was shocked by her changed looks.

Miki's brown hair had been permeated slightly and left down. On her face was make up that seemed like a professional would have done or would've envied. Everybody was stunned to see Miki suddenly transform from a plain teenager girl into a model or actress in a photo shoot. Around her right ear was the same microphone Shingo had previously used, indicating that Miki was singing.

**parenthesis means everyone**

**(Miki)**

"**Yeah…**

**When you call on me**

**When I hear you**

**Breathe**

**I get wings to fly**

**I feel that I'm alive**

**When you look at me**

**I can touch the sky**

**I know that I'm alive**

**Oh…ah…**

**When you bless **

**The day**

**I just drift away**

**All my worries die**

**I'm glad that I'm**

**Alive**

**You've set my heart **

**On fire **

**Filled me with love**

**Made me a woman on **

**Clouds above**

**I couldn't get **

**Much higher**

**My spirit takes flight (spirit takes flight)**

'**Cause I am alive (I am alive)**

**(Together)**

**When you call on me**

**(Miki)**

**When you call on me**

**(Together)**

**When I hear you **

**Breathe**

**(Miki)**

**When I hear you **

**Breathe**

**(Together)**

**I get wings to fly**

**I feel that I'm alive**

**(Miki)**

**I am alive)**

**(Together)**

**When you reach **

**For me**

**(Miki)**

**When you reach **

**For me**

**(Together)**

**Raising spirits high**

**(Miki)**

**God knows that**

**That I'll be the one**

**Standing by**

**Through good and**

**Through**

**Trying times**

**And it's only begun**

**I can't wait for the **

**Rest of my life**

**(Together)**

**When you call on me**

**(Miki)**

**When you call on me**

**(Together)**

**When you reach**

**For me**

**(Miki)**

**When you reach**

**For me**

**(Together)**

**I get wings to fly**

**I feel that**

**When you bless **

**The day**

**(Miki)**

**When you bless, you bless **

**The day**

**(Together)**

**I just drift away**

**(Miki)**

**I just drift away**

**(Together)**

**All my worries die**

**I know that I'm alive**

**(Miki)**

**Yeah…**

**I get**

**Wings to fly**

**God knows that I'm**

**Alive"**

**("I'm Alive" by Celine Dion)**

When Miki finished singing the first verse, she had brought up her left hand and released the knot holding the cloak. The robe fell to the ground, revealing the most beautiful dress everyone had laid his or her eyes on. The dress was a rich pinkish-red color and seemed to be a type of dress a girl would wear to a very formal ball. The top of the dress left the shoulders bare, the strap was wrapped about two inches from the top of her shoulders and seemed to be the only form of sleeves on the dress. The top of the dress was decorated with ivory colored pearls that followed the rim over the chest. It slims down to the waist and expands downward until it ends at the ankles. And on the back of the dress were two light pinkish-whitish wings that made Miki resemble an angel.

While she was singing, the spotlights near the ceiling seemed to react to the song. The band members looked around and all thought in their heads, "They're controlling the lights now?" They were amazed at how the spotlights seemed to make it look like it was nighttime with an angel illuminating light.

When she finished, everyone stared at Miki with their mouths dropped open, especially her family and closest friends. Miki had sang the same way as Shingo had done before; she moved her hands and walked around the stage, she moved based on the words of the song and to the soft melody her friends had played on their instruments.

Miki brought her hand up to her head as silence was only heard in the auditorium unlike the applause Shingo received from before. The microphone amplified the sound of her breathing very hard while Miki just stood there with her hand still over her eyes. The five male musicians waited for the applause from the audience who probably was stunned to see a side nobody knew existed in Miki.

Miki turned around with an embarrassed look on her face, ready to kill Yamato for suggesting her to sing. But before she took a step towards him, behind her back, the audience erupted. Miki froze there, dazed that her schoolmates and other guests were applauding. She stared at her "big brother" with her chocolate brown eyes and he winked at her, along with the other musicians smiling.

Yamato hopped over the keyboard and all five boys ran towards Miki. Yamato and Shingo turned Miki around so she can face the audience giving her a standing ovation. Quietly counting to three, Ryu signaled everyone and altogether they gave a bow of gratitude. The two cousins cheered and shouted as they jumped over at Miki and attacked her with embraces. Miki complained about the sudden attack as Yamato, Ryu and Shingo laughed at her distress while she tried to push them away.

Meiko, Satoshi, Yuu, and Suzu just stood there in front of the stage, almost like statues, with stunned expressions on their faces. Kei, on the other hand, was surprised to see Miki perform, but other than that, it seemed to have made him attracted to her even more. Kei and Yuu recovered from their surprise of the talent nobody knew existed in Miki as they watched her laugh among her old friends with soft eyes.

Yamato retreated from the group and retrieved a long light purple colored ribbon from the box. He pushed everyone away from the brunette so he could make an adjustment on the dress. "Miki, can you just twirl around a bit? I just want to make sure everything is okay before we take some pictures for my folks," Miki's "brother" asked.

"Hai," Miki replied; she slowly turned around with the dress and wings to follow in a circle. She was too intent on doing her past routines that she didn't notice the spectators is still in the auditorium. Nor did she realize that Yuu had a very serious look in his brown eyes, or the slight gaze of jealousy from both Yuu and Kei, when Yamato wrapped his arms around her waist to tie the ribbon there.

"Akizuki said that Yugasa-kun and the other boys like Miki, then why don't they seem jealous?" Yuu thought. In fact, Ryu and the other three guys seemed quite comfortable with Yamato putting his arms around Miki, _their_ crush, _his_ girlfriend, almost like it's an everyday thing.

Yuu clenched his fists together as Yamato tied the ribbon around the waistline and made a bow on the side of the dress. "Nobody ever mentioned why Miki calls Orihara, 'anaki', or who Hideki is," he thought angrily, "Why is Miki acting like she doesn't even realize that we're still here?"

Yamato perfected the bow and made sure that the left over ribbon was curved in slightly. Ryu held his camera in his hands as Yamato instructed Miki to stand in a certain pose with the angel wings. Yamato stood back and Miki twirled around slightly until the wing on her left covered her face slightly. Ryu took a few pictures and directed the people on the bottom of the stage to take pictures off the side.

"There, it's perfect," Yamato whispered in a proud tone, "Now, let's take the wings off." The blonde stood behind Miki and detached the wings off the back of the dress. Miki turned her head to watch as Yamato took the wings off and placed them aside.

Ryu waited for Yamato to move out of the way. "Alright, Miki look this way and give us your smile," Yamato instructed. Miki gave Yamato her prized smile and stood still with her hands behind her back; Ryu quickly took a few shoots of the pose. Yamato would occasionally go over to Miki and have her pose and then Ryou would take several more pictures. And for fun, Keisuke sneaked behind Miki and carried her up in his arms, causing the both of them to laugh; Shingo and Arashi would sometimes get into the pictures with her.

The five teenagers stood there and watched as they portrayed Miki as a model, by having her stand in several poses and taking her picture with the dress. Suzu was shocked that these boys would use a girl who isn't beautiful as a model when there was a professional model in front of them while Yuu and Kei couldn't help but admire the beauty they see radiating off of the girl they both love. Meiko watched as Yamato tried to make Miki stand in a certain pose with a glance of happiness at the same time as Satoshi imagined Meiko being the one in the gorgeous dress.

When they finished taking photos, Ryu took hold of his camera stand and adjusted the lens as everyone stood behind Miki. Yamato stood next to the first three boys and waited until Ryu was finished with the camera and stood up next to them. Everyone in the crowd watched as Ryu slowly counted from one to ten and Arashi whispered into his ear.

As Ryu said four, he smiled and nodded his head; Shingo and Keisuke was trying to hold in their laughter in while Yamato just grinned slightly, knowing that Miki will kill Arashi later for having that idea. The people up front wondered what was going on and what the boys were thinking that Miki is clueless about. Miki was just standing there in front of the boys with a smile on her face, not knowing what was going on behind her.

Yamato gently took hold of Miki's shoulders and pulled her to take a step back. Once Ryu counted up to the number seven, Arashi kneeled down and wrapped his arms around Miki's knees and lifted her up; to prevent her from crashing, Yamato placed his hand behind her back and Keisuke helped carry her. Then the rich teenager counted to ten, all five boys were carrying Miki in a horizontal line with her head leaned upward and Yamato's head was bending downward and there was a huge smile plastered on everyone's faces.

Then the flash of light came from the camera and took the picture; Miki squirmed a bit to get free from her old friends' hold, but none were willing to let her get away so quickly. So, being in the middle, Shingo took hold of Miki and took a few steps forward until he was the only one carrying her in his arms; Shingo gently brought Miki down as Yamato sighed at Arashi, who was laughing his head off.

"Who came up with the idea to do that again?" Miki asked Shingo. The black-haired boy turned around and stared at Arashi; Miki followed his gaze and saw Ryu, Keisuke, and Yamato point of Arashi, who was still laughing. Miki glared at the boy who made everyone repeat the humiliating pose they once did three years ago.

"Arashi-kun," Miki said, her voice having a slight dangerous tone. The sunglasses wearing brunette heard the hidden warning in her tone, so he quickly searched for haven behind his cousin. "I can't believe that you thought of that pose AGAIN!" Miki shouted at him.

Yuu suddenly remembered the reminder he made to himself, so right before was about to pound Arashi, Yuu shouted out her name. Miki turned around and saw a concentrated look in his brown eyes. She asked him what was wrong because he looked very serious, which wasn't normal for him. "Who is Hideki?" he finally asked softly, unintentionally saving Arashi from the angry teenager.

Just then, Yuu wished he had kept the question to himself. Miki's face changed drastically, her previous happy face to a shocked and devastated one. Her brown eyes had lost its shine and widened with tears ready to come out. Meiko smacked herself on her forehead; she couldn't believe that Yuu had just asked about her best friend's deceased brother. Yamato and the rest of his friends glared at Yuu with invisible daggers shooting at him, despite the fact that it wasn't really daggers, but their glares caused him to flinch. Suzu and Satoshi looked at each other and then to Yuu, and finally to Miki, wondering why the closest friends of Miki seem upset that Yuu asked that question.

In the audience, Miki's biological parents looked upset that their stepson mentioned the name of the young boy Miki loved as a brother and died saving her life. The two parents that has black hair frowned as Miki's father, Koishikawa Jin, said, "Doshite? (Why?) Why did he have to mention his name?" His previous wife sighed, their daughter had just learned to accept Hideki's death about four to five months after the incident and now the son of their new spouses had to mention his name.

Matsuura Rumi, Jin's first wife before their divorce, said, "I wish Yuu-kun never talked or mentioned about Hideki-san. Now Miki is going to start blaming herself for his death all over again."

Rumi and Jin's new marriage partners looked at each other and then to their new partners. "Why do those kids on the stage look upset just because Yuu mentioned this Hideki's name?" Koishikawa Chiyako asked.

"Just watch and you'll see," Jin told his wife. Matsuura Youji looked at Rumi, who just nodded her head. All four pairs of eyes looked ahead at the stage, oblivious of what was going on a few rows ahead.

Miki's first love, Suou Ginta, shook angrily in his seat. "I can't believe Matsuura actually spoke about Hideki-kun in front of her," he muttered. The brunette could tell that Suzuki Arimi and Rokutunda Tsutomu were staring at him. "Baka Matsuura, he doesn't even realize the damage he had started just by mentioning Hideki-kun in front of Miki. It won't bother her if Meiko, me or those guys mention him because we knew what had happened, but Matsuura doesn't know."

"Ginta, what are you mumbling about?" his cousin whispered, "Why is Koishikawa look like she's about to cry. And who is this…"

"How does he know?" Miki said with the headphone emphasized the tone of her voice for everyone to hear. Miki pulled the headphones off and shouted at Yamato, Shingo, Ryu, Keisuke, and Arashi, "How does Yuu know about nii-chan?" None of them wanted to answer her question, knowing that they're all to blame for introducing Hideki in the first place.

Then Ryu stepped forward and apologized, "Gomen nasi, (sorry) Miki, demo it's all my fault." Miki looked at him and softly asked for an explanation. "I wasn't paying attention and accidentally showed Matsuura a picture I once took on Hideki's birthday. You know, the one when Hideki kissed you on the cheek after you gave him his present," Ryu explained.

Miki shook his head slowly and whispered, "He wasn't supposed to know about him. I didn't want Yuu to know." Miki's body began to shake as she turned to face Yuu, who saw her crying. "I didn't want him to know about nii-chan. I didn't want him to know that…I killed him."

She said the last three words softly, but everyone heard them perfectly clear; there were soft gasps and whispering among those who didn't meet Miki in junior high school. Suzu and her cousin couldn't believe that Miki had killed someone in ninth grade. Yuu looked at Meiko, who shook her head in dissatisfaction, and then at the boys on stage, who are looking very upset that Miki had just said those words. Kei, on the other hand, looked more concern than shocked, he wanted to go up to Miki and comfort her, which he doubts Yuu would do, considering he's too absorbed into trying to understand what is going on.

What is going on? Miki killing someone. Can anyone picture this happening? One brother's probably enough, but Miki has two? Read on and find out about this secretive nii-chan of Miki's.


	6. Ch5The Meeting of the Siblings

Ch5-The Meeting of Siblings

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy nor the songs

Ginta and Meiko were about to jump up and scream at Miki for blaming herself on something that isn't her fault, but Yamato had beaten them to it. He had grabbed Miki by the shoulders and shook her roughly. "How many times do we have to say it to get it through your head? It wasn't your fault that Hideki died. Blame it on the drunk driver, blame it on Hideki's desire to protect you, demo don't blame it on yourself."

Miki stared at him, trying to believe in his words and what he says is true, but as she thought about Hideki's parents, who suffered the lost of their only son, her guilt overcame her common sense. "I KILLED NII-CHAN!" Miki shouted, "If it wasn't for me, then he would still be alive!" Yamato gave up trying to help conquer her self-guilt and just watched Miki squeezing her eyes close together and her body was trembling in pain of the remembrance of the death of a close friend to everyone.

Keisuke, not being able to take it anymore, blurted out, "Even if the accident never happened, Hideki would've died sooner or later." Miki opened her eyes and abruptly turned to Keisuke, waiting for him to explain. Keisuke's cousin shook his head, attempting to signal him to keep quiet, but Keisuke's anger of Miki's self-guilt refused to shut him up. "Hideki could've died even if the accident never happened because he has…"

Keisuke knew that by telling Miki this, he would be breaking his promise to Hideki, but he believes that Miki should know the reason. He rushed over to Miki and grasped her shoulders and tried to remain calm as he said the following words, "Hideki…he had…cancer. It was rapidly getting worse. The doctors believed that he would die before even graduating high school."

"Nani? Nii-chan…had cancer?" Miki whispered, doubting what Keisuke told her was true. Miki stared at him, as he stared at the stage floor; she never heard about this from Hideki or anyone else. Miki turned to the others, who kept their gazes down on the floor, and asked, "Minna, you knew? You knew and you never told me? Doshite?" She knocked Keisuke's hands off and stared at them, repeating, "Doshite?" None of them gave her another glance and knew right away that she was crying from the shaking in her tone.

Raindrops began to change into a waterfall, that was how Miki's tears acted; the five boys immediately felt guilty and refused to look at the weeping girl. "We promised to keep it a secret from you. It was Hideki's wish that you wouldn't know until he was ready to tell you, but the time never arrived because…" Ryu said sadly.

"Remember the time when Shingo had broken up with Mizuka, before you asked me why Hideki couldn't come to rehearsals for about a month?" Miki's gaze stayed on Ryu, she nodded her head slowly, only taking her eyes off of him when she blinked, forcing the tears in her eyes to fall. "The reason why he couldn't come was because of treatments to try to weaken the cancer."

"I don't care about that anymore," Miki said. She shook her head and shouted, "All I want to know is WHY!" Finally they all looked at her and felt sad for causing her so much pain; maybe it would've been best if none of them came to see her. "Why…you didn't tell me anything? You kept it from me."

"He didn't want you to worry about him. Hideki wanted you to live your life the ways it always were, not for you to destroy yourself being concern about him everyday," Shingo said, "Call him a coward if you like, but he thought that what he was doing was the right thing."

Shingo reverted his attention to Yamato and suggested, "Why don't you take Miki over there and try to calm her down?" Yamato walked over and gently held Miki's shoulders and walked with her to the side of the stage, talking in low whispers of comfort. Shingo turned around and stared at the remaining teenagers with sad navy blue eyes as he heard the sobbing become louder. Shingo glanced over to his best friend, Ryu, whose green eyes quickly switched their gaze to the instruments and then back to him. Shingo smiled and nodded his head gently. Shingo took hold of his microphone as Ryou whispered into the cousins' ears.

Ryu took control of his violin with Keisuke taking over the keyboard and Arashi held that acoustic guitar. Satoshi was amazed with the group's ability of knowing how to play more than one instrument and remember the notes to every song without the music sheet in front of them. He was also astonished with their talent of singing different songs, especially when they all could sign and project their voices together in a chorus. "I hate to admit it, Yuu, demo I believe that they stole the show," Satoshi said with a distraught voice.

"Matsuura-kun no baka, the reason why the others kept avoiding your question about Hideki is because of this," Meiko said angrily. Yuu looked at Meiko, who glared at him, and then to Miki still crying, not caring as the make up on her face began to get ruined. While Yamato took a moist napkin, he wiped the make-up on Miki's face, Meiko continued scolding, "Hideki was someone very important to Miki, she knew him longer than me. In fact, if Miki is still in jr. high, she would have known Hideki all her life."

"All her life, Meiko-san? What happened to him to make Miki-san upset?" Suzu asked. Meiko looked at Miki and looked at the boy who is trying to replace the brother Miki once had. "Meiko-san, why is Miki-san calling two different people 'onii-chan' when she doesn't have a brother?"

"Actually, Miki called Yamato 'anaki' and Hideki 'nii-chan'." Meiko smiled as a faraway look showed up in her brown eyes while remembering the young boy who has every guy in jr. high jealous of because of his close relationship with her best friend. "Hideki and Miki knew each other ever since they were just newborns. They lived next door to each other and were practically raised together."

Meiko sighed and watched as the others tried to get everything set up while Yamato talked to Miki. "Hideki's dream for the future was to be someone who people can depend on, not so he could be a hero or somebody famous, demo because he enjoys helping others."

"You seem to know a lot about this Hideki, Akizuki," Satoshi said; he was a bit jealous of the kind look on her face as she spoke about their mysterious man.

Meiko's smile grew wider and said, "Actually Miki was the one who told me this." Satoshi said Miki's last name to be formal, in a confused tone. Meiko nodded her head and continued, "Hai, Miki told me that when Hideki was about five or six years old, he made a wish on his birthday to get an imoto. His mom and dad declared that wish impossible. So Miki decided to make it come true by being his imoto."

Meiko gazed over to Yamato hugging Miki, trying to give her every ounce of comfort he has within himself. "Ever since that day, they became even closer; Miki never called Hideki by his real name ever again, instead she called him 'nii-chan'. If you didn't know any better, you would've believed that they were actual siblings because of how close they were."

Just then everyone heard the violin and guitar being played softly, so everyone reverted their attention to the trio musicians. Shingo was standing there and soon became the singer once again.

**(Shingo)**

"**There's a song that's inside of my soul  
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again  
I'm awake in the infinite cold  
But You sing to me over, over and over again **

So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands  
and pray to be only Yours  
I pray to be only Yours  
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars  
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing  
and laughing again  
When it feels like my dreams are so far  
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

**(Together)  
And I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only yours  
I pray to be only yours  
I know now you're my only hope  
**

**(Shingo)  
I give You my destiny  
I'm giving You all of me  
I want Your symphony  
Singing in all that I am  
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back**

**(Together)**

**And I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only yours  
I pray to be only yours**

**I pray to be only yours  
I know you're my only hope"**

**("Only Hope" by Switchfoot)**

When they finished with the song, all four turned to Miki, who stared at them with wide eyes. Shingo's left hand indicated that it was her turn to sing. Leaning her head on top of her knees, Miki sang the same song, but in a different tone.

**(Miki)**

"**There's a song that's inside of my soul  
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again  
I'm awake in the infinite cold  
But You sing to me over, over and over again **

So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands  
and pray to be only Yours  
I pray to be only Yours  
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars  
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing  
and laughing again  
When it feels like my dreams are so far  
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only yours  
I pray to be only yours  
I know now you're my only hope

I give You my destiny  
I'm giving You all of me  
I want Your symphony  
Singing in all that I am  
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

**So I lay my head back down  
And I lift my hands and pray  
To be only yours  
I pray to be only yours**

**I pray to be only yours  
I know you're my only hope**

**Hmm…o…"**

**("Only Hope" by Mandy Moore)**

When she finished singing, she whispered, "That was nii-chan's favorite song to sing." She smiled and blinked the last drop of tears as she reminisced the happy memories of Hideki and his smile as he sang that song. "He would always sing that song when he felt down or upset. When he finished, he would always smile and be happy again."

Yamato stared at her and smiled warmly. He hugged Miki from behind and reminded, "And this proved that Hideki was happy with his life and wanted everyone to feel this way. Despite the fact that his disease could kill him any time soon, he choose to have the people closest to him to live their lives happily and reach their full potential in life."

Miki turned her head to stared at Yamato's resting his chin on her shoulder. "I think I understand why minna doesn't want me to blame myself again. Nii-chan always does what he believed was right," Miki thought silently.

"Nii-chan's biggest dream is to a person who others could depend on, to protect people around him. If he just allowed that car to hit me, then he wouldn't have looked up to his dreams," she whispered.

Miki's gaze stayed on the floor so she didn't spot Ryu standing beside her. Ryu hugged Miki when Yamato removed his arms. "And don't forget, despite of his dream might never succeed if Hideki did that, he chose to save your life because he loves you a lot. You mean more to Hideki than anybody else he knows."

Ryu rested his head gently against hers and sighed. "There's something you never figured out. We ALL would've done the same thing that Hideki did. Everyone was willing to wish their lives to save you that day, but Hideki was the one who reached you first."

"MIKI!" Yuu shouted. Ryu, Yamato and Miki turned to see Yuu stare at her with worried eyes; then again, every one of the people in the audience was looking worried or concern of the young girl.

Ryu noticed right away that there is something going on between Miki and Yuu when she looked at him with a coy yet weary look in her brown eyes. "I wonder if these two are in love," he thought cautiously, hoping that what he's thinking is not true.

"Do you want to tell the story of who Hideki is and what happened in his life?" Ryu asked, "If we tell them, they might understand the situation a whole lot better."

Miki thought for a minute and finally agreed to tell the story of the boy she knew all her life, despite the fact that he's now long gone. She gently pushed Ryu away and took a few steps forward to the center of the stage. Yuu, Meiko, Suzu, Satoshi, and Kei walked up the steps and just stared at the sad but determine expression on her face.

Kei's green eyes softened as he asked, "Daijobu, Miki?" Miki just smiled as her reply, causing him to grin in relief; both of them didn't see Suzu stare at the two of them with scorn. "I was worried when you started crying."

Miki asked if they could take a seat on the stage. Not wanting to upset his girlfriend anymore, Yuu quickly dropped onto the platform; every one of Miki's friends that were standing on the stage followed Yuu's example. The five musicians stood where they were standing and Miki sat down on the swivel chair.

"I met nii-chan when we were just babies, nii-chan was four months older than me, being born in November. We lived right next door to each other, so if was impossible for us not to be friends." Miki closed her eyes and smiled lightly. "Nii-chan loved having me around because I was like a little sister from his dreams. On his fifth birthday, mama, papa, and I went next door to celebrate his special day and what happened that day made us closer than ever."

Ryu strolled over to his laptop and went into a brand new folder that was labeled "Hideki". He clicked on two files and had them play back to back. "I'm betting that Miki is going to ask how I got these footages," he thought. Ryu and his friends know that Miki gets really upset if they never told her anything, especially if it deals with Hideki.

Miki stared down at her folded hands on her lap and the sound of doorbell was heard, catching everyone's attention. They turned their gazes to the back of the stage that revealed a projection of a nice cozy house that belongs to a small family. There was a baby boy sitting on a rug and looking at the camera with blue eyes that'll never change through the years.

_The doorbell rung again and a young woman rushed out of the kitchen. "Tai, the door," she said to her husband. She brushed a strand of dirty blond hair behind her ear and stared at her husband video taping their son with pale blue eyes. "The doorbell rung, Tai," she repeated._

_Wondering why she decided to marry him a few years ago, the mother walked over to open the door. And standing in front of her was Koishikawa Rumi and Jin with their four-day-old daughter, Miki. "Rumi, Jin, welcome back home," she said happily. The woman kneeled down slightly and asked, "And who is this little tenshi?"_

_"Our daughter, Sakana, her name is Miki," Rumi said, smiling brightly as they all entered their next-door neighbors' home. Rumi placed Miki on the rug in the living room and all four adults watched as Miki and the baby stared at each other._

_"Sweetie, this is Koishikawa Miki-chan, she's going to live right next door. Miki-chan, this is my son, Tsukishiro Hideki, he's just four months older than you," Sakana said to the babies, almost as if they understand her, Miki blinked her dark chocolate brown eyes and smiled at Hideki as she kept staring at him. Hideki stared at her and smiled slightly at her while chewing on his pacifier and crawled towards her._

_Satisfied that their children are content, the two mothers headed towards the kitchen, but before they could take ten steps, the infant girl started crying, wanting her mother to stay close. Both Rumi and Sakana turned around but before they did anything to stop her crying, the male infant did something extraordinary. Hideki pulled out his pacifier from his mouth and placed it in his new friend's mouth very gently, thinking that she'll stop crying._

_Everyone watched in fascination as the sobbing stopped immediately and Hideki laughed and clapped his hands. Miki curled up against Hideki and rapidly fell asleep; the boy laid down on the rug and within seconds, he fell asleep. The four parents were in awe at how well their children synchronized with each other; Tai lifted up his green eyes from the camera's eyepiece and peered from behind his light orange-blondish bangs._

_Sakana took her camera and had a picture taken. "Something tells me that these two are going to be very close in the future," she said. Rumi nodded her head in agreement as all four of them looked at the two slumbering babies with adoring eyes. _

_"Mama, papa, it's my birthday today!" a recently turned five-year-old boy shouted happily. His mother and father smiled at their only child's happiness. "Miki, is coming, ne?" he asked, hoping they'll say yes._

_Just then Hideki's father had a sad face and said in a serious and melancholy tone, "Gomen nasi, Hideki, demo Miki-chan and her parents had to go somewhere today and they can't make it." Hideki's high spirits crashed downward when he heard that Miki isn't coming._

_Sakana came over and smacked her husband on the head with a wooden spoon. "Don't tease our son like that, Tai," she scolded. She faced Hideki and assured him in a soft tone, "Don't worry, sweet heart. Miki-chan is going to come really soon." Just then the doorbell rung. "Speak of the devil, that should be them."_

_Sakana went to open the door and Hideki smiled at the thought of having his next-door neighbors coming to celebrate his birthday with him. Then all of a sudden, a cheerful voice shouted, "Hideki! Hideki!" _

_A little four-year-old girl ran through the doorway to the white walled living room. Her big smile brightened up the room, along with her brown eyes sparkling like chocolate colored diamonds. Her short pigtails jumped up and down as she hurried over to hug Hideki._

"_Miki!" he yelled in return. Hideki opened his arms wide and Miki crashed down into his embrace. "You came, you came, you came, you came!" he repeated over and over again; both children laughed happily._

_Tai scratched his chin and said, "I didn't know that having Miki around has such a huge effect on him." He couldn't help but be amazed at the sight of how the young Miki has the power to make people feel happy. He watched as Miki handed his offspring his birthday present._

"_Of course, having Miki around has a huge effect. Hideki loves Miki with all his heart, probably more than anything in the whole wide world," his wife said. "I'm not sure why, but as long as Hideki's happy, I don't care."_

_Sakana and Rumi hurried to the kitchen to get the birthday cake ready while Jin and Tai watched a soccer game go on TV. Miki and Hideki were sitting on the floor with the birthday boy opening the present quickly. Nestled in the gift-wrapping paper was a toy airplane, despite the fact that it was his gift, he allowed Miki to play with it first._

_Tai closed the lights and Sakana and Rumi slowly walked out of the kitchen with a cake in hand. On top of the white creamed cake were five blue candles lit with small flames. Hideki and Miki scurried behind the coffee table in front of the couch, and watched the cake get lowered down onto the table. In the middle of the white cake there were blue words written in a lovely cursive font that says 'Happy Birthday Hideki'._

"_Make a wish," Miki said blissfully, "Make a wish." Hideki closed his blue eyes and did what Miki had asked him to do; when he finished creating a wish, he opened his eyes and blew out the candles. "Yay!" she shouted, throwing her hands into the air. Tai turned on the lights and Sakana got ready to cut the cake. Miki leaned forward and asked, "What did you ask for?"_

_Hideki turned his body around and said proudly, "I wished for an imoto." His father froze right after he turned on the lights and his mother just stared at Tai. "I want an imoto who is just like you, Miki." His little naïve friend held a puzzling but steady gaze on him._

_Hideki looked up at the ceiling and continued, "Ever since we were little, I always dreamed of having an imoto with brown hair and brown eyes." He looked back at Miki and smiled with a gentle look in his blue eyes. "She would smile everyday and is very kind."_

_Hideki quickly widened his grin when he heard Miki say that she wishes she had an older brother like him. He didn't catch the worried glances his parents were giving to each other. Despite the fact that his parents are willing to give their son all the comfort he needs, that is one wish they can't grant. Hideki and Miki both have no knowledge that Tai and Sakana's son was actually adopted. The two can't have children, though they tried numerous times for the past five years they were married until they finally decided to adopt a baby boy who lost both his parents to an accident._

_Knowing that not being able to grant his wish hurts, Sakana told Hideki that he couldn't have a little sister. "Doshite?" Hideki asked. His father just answered his question with silence. "Demo I want an imoto. I want to have someone depend and look up to me," he complained._

_Miki looked at Hideki with a sad look in her brown eyes as she watched him cry for the first time since she met him. Just when Miki was about to feel guilty on not being able to cheer Hideki up when he was always there for her, suddenly she had an idea that might grant both their wishes for a sibling. "I'll be your imoto!" she exclaimed._

"_Huh?" all the parents stared at the little girl with pigtails, not knowing what she had said. Miki repeated her idea with a bright smile on her face._

_Hideki was shocked as well, but a grin soon crept back from its hiding place. "Honto?" he asked. Miki replied by nodding her head quickly._

"_You want an imoto and I want a nii-chan. If I be your imoto, then both of our wishes can come true." Miki embraced Hideki and hugged his tightly as she whispered, "That's my birthday present to you, nii-chan."_

_Hideki repeated the last word his brand new little sister said and grew happy. He clasped Miki firmly and said, "Arigato. This is the best present ever, Miki. From now on, we're going to be brother and sister." They both smiled at each other and made a pinky promise to each other. _

"The next day after we made that promise, we acted like we were related. People would take one look at us and immediately assume that we're siblings, despite having different hair and eye color," Miki said, facing Yuu and her friends. Miki couldn't help but feel thankful for the reminder of how the brother and sister relationship had started.

Isn't that a sweet thing for Miki to say? Personally I think that not only siblings, but it might be possible for Hideki and Miki to actually develop a romantic relationship? But where is that guy right now? Read on and send some reviews on what you think.


	7. Ch6The Boys Meeting Ginta

Ch6-The Boys Meeting Ginta

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy

Then she remembered that she didn't meet Ryu until they were introduced to each other in junior high, so how did he get those clips of the first meeting and the start of the relationship. Miki turned to Ryu, who was testing out the projection and kept glancing to someone in the front of the stage. Miki looked over there and saw a few people video taping everything that happens on stage. "You're recording everything, Ryu-chan?" she asked.

Ryu looked at Miki and began talking like he's explaining something on a tour, "You know as well as I do that. I always record everything important that happens in my life."

Ryu watched Miki as she looked at Yamato generating a conversation with Yuu. "That's partly true, Miki, I only record things if it involves you," he thought silently to himself.

Ryu's soft green eyes focused hard on Miki, he was so concentrated on her that he didn't notice Kei staring back at him. "They all have a thing for Miki, demo she already has a boyfriend," Kei thought, "She'll be free…soon. I'll make sure of it."

Kei looked at Miki and watched as she laughed at Yamato threatening to kill Yuu when he found out from Meiko that Yuu is very popular with the girls. "Thank goodness that she's happy. I want her to laugh like that everyday," Kei contemplated with a light smile on his face.

Yamato choked Yuu and warned, "Even if you are popular in school, you better not make Miki cry. If I find out that you made her upset, you'll pay dearly." Miki laughed while Yuu quickly agreed just so he could get the obsessed, overprotective "brother" off of him. "I really wouldn't get much upset if any other girl gets hurt, but if Miki ends up being the one crying, you're in for it. And believe me, if words gets out that Miki cried because of you, you will be pounced by more than a hundred people."

"Anaki, why are you getting so defensive over me?" Miki asked. She hugged Yamato from behind and complained, "Don't worry about me, anaki, I can take care of myself." Yamato looked at her worriedly, but realized that what she said was right. Miki isn't the childish eighth grader; she matured a lot since the last day before they separated to go to different high schools. "Nii-chan did look after me a lot, demo he knows that I'm not an aka-chan(baby)."

Yamato grinned lightly and brushed the strand of curled hair away from Miki's eyes. "You're right, Miki. Gomen nasi, I can't help being caring about you; do you know why?" Miki shook her head and Yamato hugged her tightly while answering his own question, "Because you're my baby sister."

Mick frowned and started whining, "I'm not an aka-chan, anaki! Stop treating me like one!"

Yuu grinned and said, "You say you're not an aka-chan demo you cry like one, Miki." Everyone watched as the girl in the fancy dress screamed Yuu's name out loud and began pounding him on the chest; she accused Yuu of always teasing her as he laughed. Yuu held her wrists so she wouldn't hit him again after a minute of continuous pounding; he chuckled while confirming, "I'm only joking, Miki."

"Ne, Miki, why don't we have you change into something else?" Yamato asked, trying to be the voice of reason to the two. The laughing, complaining, and the pounding stopped with the both of them looking at Yamato. Miki nodded her head with the happy glow on her face. "Why don't you go backstage and I'll get the supplies."

Miki nodded her head again and obediently walked backstage. Yamato looked at Yuu and said out loud, "When the two of you are together, you reminded me of someone." Yamato closed his eyes and thought silently for a minute. Then it hit him. "It's strange that you remind me of Ginta."

Yuu stared at Yamato while Arashi studied him and agreed. "You two wouldn't happen to be boyfriend and girlfriend, ne?" Miki's high school friends all stared at Arashi with wide eyes and listened to the reason of leading to his assumption. "In junior high, Ginta and Miki were both pretty close friends, their correlation was almost as intimate as her and Hideki's relationship, demo the closeness caused a lot of people believing that they were going to be a couple."

"If you heard about the letter incident, then you probably heard that Miki had a lot of admirers and still does," Keisuke said. Meiko asked what he meant, so he said, "Don't tell Miki this demo most of the guys who liked Miki back then, ended up not having a girlfriend, even though some of them are the popular guys in school. About four to five of them actually moved on with their lives, everyone else is still waiting for their turn to be the first to ask Miki out."

"When you say 'going out', you do mean by Miki-san going somewhere alone with a boy to somewhere fun, ne?" Suzu asked. Keisuke nodded his head and wished that he could be the first and only one who goes out with Miki. "Gomen demo Miki-san already went on a date with Yuu-sensei," Suzu said immediately, catching everyone's attention. Satoshi quickly covered his cousin's mouth with Yuu inhaling sharply with everyone staring at the three of them.

"Matsuura? Demo they're brother and sister, not blood related, demo…"Shingo sighed and gave up. "Let's face it, he doesn't know about the deal, so it doesn't count for him. If he's Miki's boyfriend, then…"

"Sure we went out, demo it wasn't like a date," Yuu lied. All five musicians, along with Suzu and Kei, turned their heads to him. "We would go somewhere together to usually buy presents or just to hang out." Yuu turned around and tried to hide his face, which turned slightly red from anger of hearing a lot of boys _actually_ waiting to ask Miki out on a date. "It's not like we were that intimate in a relationship."

"Why is he lying? Why isn't he telling them the truth that Miki is his girlfriend?" Kei thought to himself. He eyed the blonde and began to assume that not a lot of people know of the relationship and that is the reason why Satoshi is concealing Suzu's mouth with his hand so she won't say any more of Miki and Yuu dating.

"Anaki," Miki called out, "Are you finished getting everything yet?" Taking that as his cue, Yamato grabbed the box once again and went into hiding behind he curtain.

Miki came out while Yamato rushed in and smiled at the group of friends. "You better not tease Yuu, minna, otherwise he'll pay back by teasing me at home," she warned. With a last wave, Miki rushed after Yamato, shouting for him to wait up.

"Ne, who made Miki-san's face like that?" Suzu asked, "Who made Miki-san a model?" Just then Shingo, Arashi, and Keisuke pointed in three different directions, one at Ryu, another to where Yamato disappeared, and up at the ceiling. Suzu eyed those three suspiciously and questioned, "How did Ryu-kun, Yamato-kun, and the ceiling transform Miki-san into a model?"

Finding her question funny, they all laughed. Still chuckling, Shingo patted Suzu on the head as if she was a little kid and said, "You're kawaii, demo not as kawaii as Miki."

Suzu frowned and glared at Shingo, but saw that he wasn't paying any attention to her. "It's actually Ryu, Yamato and _Hideki_ who made Miki a model," Keisuke corrected, "The ceiling had no part in it."

Meiko realized that what they're saying still made no sense to the friends Miki made in high school. She walked over to the four boys and faced her friends, changing the subject, "Miki told you that she blames herself for Hideki's death demo she never told you how he died."

Meiko was about to continue explaining when Ryu snapped his fingers and screamed with an accusing tone and his finger pointing at Yuu. "No wonder you seem familiar! You were with Miki at the park!" Ryu smacked Shingo's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Remember, Miki had the necklace Hideki gave her and she was wearing it. You saw the video, Shingo."

"How can that be? I just met you and you never recorded me with Miki," Yuu said, "I only saw Miki wear a necklace she said a boy gave her only once and you weren't there. Unless you were invisible and we couldn't see you."

"But you did see my camera," Ryu said. He nodded his head to an employee and pointed to the projection where the scenery took place somewhere in a park.

_Yuu walked over to the railing and gazed down at the lake's water. He stared down at his reflection and tried to relax on his day off from work and the photo shoot. Yuu stood up straight and stretched out his arms with a slight yawn. "Wonder what's keeping her so long?" Yuu wondered to himself._

_He turned around and spied a video camera sitting on the wooden pillar on the corner, where the railing turns and continues as a bridge across the lake. Yuu took several steps forward and leaned down to study the camera. He didn't notice that Miki was standing right behind him._

_Miki took a few quiet steps back with a smile glued to her face. Then she ran over to Yuu and jumped on him, falling on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck. Yuu stumbled a bit and turned abruptly to see Miki laughing as she leaned on his back. "Hey you, that hurts," Yuu complained in an indifferent tone._

_Miki stuck her tongue in playful manner and continued to grin. "That's what you get for not paying attention, Yuu," she scolded. Yuu took Miki's hands pulled her closer, lifting her feet off the ground, and quickly walked over to the railing, his position caused her to sit on the railing. Yuu turned around and kept his hands on her wrists. "Nani yo, Yuu?" Miki asked._

"_I wonder what happens if you fall in," Yuu said in a sly tone. Miki glared at him and replied that their parents would be mad at him. Yuu shrugged his shoulders and pretended not to care. He then pushed Miki slightly backward with his hands still at her wrists until she almost seems like she was about to fall off the rail and into the water. He smiled as he listened to her complain and beg him to pull her back up._

_Yuu finally did what she asked him to do and laughed when she crashed into his chest. Miki jumped off the metal fence and smacked Yuu on his shoulder. The blonde then noticed a gold chain around her neck with a gold and red heart hanging on it. "Miki, what is that?" Yuu asked, pointing to the locket._

_Miki looked down at the heart-shaped adornment. "It's a locket, Yuu," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I thought that someone who is as smart as you would know what it is."_

"_I know it's a necklace, I just never saw you wear it before. Did Jin-san give that to you?" Yuu asked._

_Miki shook her head. "Papa didn't give this to me, a really close friend of mine did." Yuu didn't seem to mind the fact that a friend gave her the necklace, he quickly assumed it was Meiko. Miki looked up at the sky and leaned against the railing; she took a deep breath and continue, "After we finished working on a project, he gave this to me as a present." Yuu seemed a bit shock to find out that a boy gave her the jewelry._

_Miki held a soft look in her brown eyes while staring at the light blue sky. Yuu gave a fake smile and asked, "Did Suou give you the locket?" Miki closed her eyes and shook her head with a gentle smile on her face. "If Suou didn't give that to her, then who? Who else is Miki close to, that is a guy?" he thought._

_He seemed preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice Miki calling his name. Miki waved her hand in front of his eyes to get his attention. "Yuu, are you listening to me?" Miki questioned, "I said that the boy who gave this to me, knew me a whole lot longer than Ginta did. We were actually childhood friends."_

_Yuu saw that this time there was a look of melancholy in her eyes. "What happened to him?" he asked._

_Miki shook her head again and didn't answer his question. Yuu frowned when Miki kept silent, not replying his question. Yuu then remembered what he did to Miki to get her to make lunch for him when their parents went to Hawaii. Yuu stood behind her and pulled a few strand of hair from one of her pigtails gently. "Ne, Miki, onegai," he begged in a complaining tone. Miki obviously grew annoyed and Yuu quickly took notice of that just by reading the expression on her face when she knocked his hand away. "Onegai, Miki," he repeated, pulling her pigtails again._

"_He moved away," she finally told him, "So far away that even I can't see him anymore." Yuu asked her how long ago did he move and she quietly replied that he moved when they were in ninth grade._

_She looked at Yuu with a curious glance and asked, "Why do you want to know so much about him? It's not like I'll ever see him again until many years from now." Yuu didn't answer her; he just thought to himself that he's glad to hear that this close male friend of his girlfriend is gone, that way he won't have to compete against anyone to keep Miki. Miki looked at Yuu as she waited for his answer to her question and saw something on his face, which she never thought she would see._

"_Ha!" Miki shouted, finally catching Yuu's attention. Yuu looked at the brunette while she pointed at him and accused in a teasing manner, "You're jealous."_

_Yuu jumped up and blushed furiously as he defended himself. "I am not jealous. Why would I be jealous of someone I never even met?" He watched as Miki shrugged her shoulders and repeated that he's jealous. "I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Yuu shouted with his face entirely red._

_Miki studied Yuu's face and laughed. "If you're not jealous, then why are you blushing?" Yuu shouted his denial, but Miki continued to poke fun at him. She didn't even notice the video cam as she walked towards it. "I wonder what reaction would Meiko, Ginta, Arimi-san, and Miwa-san have if they find out that you're jealous of a guy you don't knew and met. Meiko and Ginta would laugh their heads off if they find out you're envious of this person."_

_Yuu hurried over to Miki and grabbed her mouth from behind, his hand covering her mouth. "You better don't tell Satoshi-san and Suou, otherwise they'll never leave me alone and, besides, I'm not jealous! Would you stop saying that?"_

_Miki pulled his hand away and finally promised to stop mocking him. Once Yuu released her, Miki ran away and then screamed, "Yuu is jealous!"_

"_Hey you!" Yuu said loudly. Miki laughed as Yuu chased after her for saying those three words. _

Everyone watched in silence as Yuu's agility actually helped him and he managed to capture Miki. The two of them leaned against the railing, trying to stop laughing and catch their breaths at the same time. "Would you stop saying that, Miki? Why in the world would I be jealous of this stranger?" Yuu asked, "Besides, aren't you my stepsister?" Miki screamed out Yuu's name and smacked him hard again on his chest with him laughing heartily.

Ryu stopped the projection tight after Miki stuck out her tongue at him. "Told ya he was at the park with Miki," Ryu said proudly to his friends.

Keisuke stared at Yuu and smirked, "You were jealous of Hideki." He looked at his cousin and the two of them laughed. "Matsuura was jealous of the only boy in our class that didn't have a crush on Miki."

"I was not jealous," Yuu muttered angrily. "What was your camera doing at the park anyway, Yugasa-kun?" he demanded to know. His friends gave him a curious glance, seeing him so uneasy and upset for the first time.

Ryu sighed and confessed, "I was at the park too, but I had no clue Miki was there as well. I was recording the park's scenery for a science project with a few of my friends. One of them wanted to tell me a secret without my camera, so I left it there and then you and Miki just happened to be there." He glared at the cousins and ordered them, "Would the two of you shut up?"

The cousins tried to stop laughing but couldn't help it; just then Yamato came back out and asked, "What did I miss?"

"Matsuura was jealous of Hideki," Arashi said. Yamato glanced at Yuu, who shouted out his denial at the brunette. "Oh, come on, it's nothing to be embarrassed about it."

"Yeah! Before everyone understood the truth of his relationship with Miki, they were jealous of him as well," Keisuke agreed. Not even letting Yuu open his mouth, Keisuke looked at his friends and continued, "We were also envious of Hideki."

"Remember that first Valentine's Day we had in junior high, Miki and Hideki exchanged their presents and all of the boys were so mad at Hideki, demo not as mad as they were with Ginta." Yamato, Ryu, and Shingo rolled their eyes while Arashi chuckled.

"Everybody knew that those two loved each other, demo nobody wanted to admit the fact that Miki loved a different boy, other then them." They all looked down after hearing Shingo's statement. "Demo again, if it weren't for some of the boys around Ginta when they found the letter, those two would still be friends and probably ended up dating.

Yuu glared at the projection where a screensaver of group or solo pictures of Miki were shown, the most common pictures were of Miki being happy with mostly Hideki, Ginta, Yamato, and Meiko, another common pictures were often just Miki modeling in the clothes Yamato designed. "What's this about Valentine's Day presents?" he asked after seeing a picture of Miki and Hideki exchanging gifts went by.

This time, Meiko was the one explaining the situation. "There was an old tradition Miki and Hideki had, where on every Valentine's Day, Hideki would give Miki chocolate and Miki would give him a rose. They would share the chocolate together so the love they have for one another would always be in each other."

She smiled happily and continued, "But there was one time, when Hideki handed Miki a seven inch chocolate usagi and she handed him a rose while they were in school. Miki shared the chocolate as always, demo this time she gave some to many other people, like Ginta, Yamato-kun, Shingo-san, Ryu-kun, Arashi-kun, and Keisuke-kun. I just entered the room when Miki saved a piece for me." Yuu remained speechless of a small tradition he had just heard; not once had he seen a boy give a girl he loved as a sister a valentine and vise versa.

In the audience, Arimi turned to Ginta and asked, "Miki-san gave you a valentine in junior high?" Ginta smiled nervously and blushed lightly as he looked onto the ground. His cousin, Rokutanda Tsutomu, leaned forward in his seat and accused Ginta of accepting a valentine from a girl he rejected in junior high, confessed his love in high school, but gave up when she began loving Yuu, and then moving on to Arimi.

Getting annoyed, Ginta jumped up and shouted, gathering everybody's attention, "Miki didn't give me a valentine! She shared it with me and the others and besides, Hideki was the one who gave the chocolate to her." It took the annoyed brunette about a minute to realize that every person in the auditorium was staring at him. Feeling embarrassed, Ginta slowly sat down with a flushed face.

"Hey Ginta, I was wondering where you went," Arashi shouted. Then he saw Arimi asking Ginta if he was feeling okay and then said out loud, "Wow, Ginta, I didn't think you and Miki would hold a grudge this long and now you have a girlfriend that isn't Miki. Not bad though, she is a bit kaiwaii, demo I still say that Miki is on the top. However, she does push Suzu-chan into fourth place for being kawaii."

"HUH! GINTA HAS A GIRLFRIEND!" the other four shouted. They all jumped forward and saw Arimi blush when they said that and Ginta's face flushed a deeper red color. "KAWAII! She is just as kawaii as Miki!"

Shingo smiled and said in a teasing manner, "I guess this means we won't have a very tough competition to get Miki to be our girlfriend." Ginta, Kei, and Yuu all looked at Shingo's face with shock in their eyes. He looked at Ginta with a smirk and held his hands behind his neck with his elbows in the air. "I'm guessing you won't care, ne?"

"Of course, I would care," Ginta shouted, jumping back up. Ryu stared at his friend and asked why he is so uptight when he already has a girlfriend, causing Arimi to blush again. Ginta began to get worried as he thought of a huge excuse, besides the fact that Miki has a boyfriend and that's Yuu; this is one of those secrets he has to keep because if everyone finds out, it till cause problems for both Miki and Yuu, not to mention, Miki will hate him for the rest of his life.

Ryu shouted out Ginta's name, forcing him to say something from the top of his head, "It doesn't matter if me and Miki are not in love or whatever, we're still best friends. And besides, the way you're saying it, makes it sound like you'll just compete for her hand, regardless of what she thinks. Anyway, you all know that Miki only loves you guys like brothers." Arashi squinted his eyes at Ginta with a suspicious gaze, Ginta felt uncomfortable so he questioned, "Nani, Arashi-san?"

Arashi shrugged and sighed, "The way you were talking makes _it_ sound like you were speaking from experience." He looked to Yuu and continued speaking while keeping his gaze at Yuu, "Like you competed for Miki against someone who she must have liked very much."

Ginta was about to make up another lie when Suzu ran in front of the group to make them stop talking and answer her question. "How did Ryu-kun, Hideki-kun, and Yamato-kun make Miki-san a model? How come I never saw her picture in magazines and she was never famous?"

"How could they make a girl, who isn't as kaiwaii as me, into a grown-up version of a model?" she thought enviously.

"Hideki was the one who brought Miki over to Ryu's house and asked her to test out the clothes Yamato and his parents designed. Yamato and his folks were the ones designing and creating the clothes; his parents wanted to know how a teenage girl would look, so Hideki volunteered Miki into doing it," Keisuke said, trying to explain. "And of course, with Ryu's intelligence in computers and cameras, Yamato's knowledge in facial cosmetics, and Hideki figure out poses, they managed to get Miki to become a private model."

Tetsuya leaned on his cousin's shoulder and continued with the explanation, "It was supposed to be a one time deal demo Yamato's okaa-san and otou-san actually like having Miki to be the model. They met Miki before and believed that she was the perfect one, with her beautiful smile and her nice cheery personality. We would usually come together about three to four times a week to help out in any way we can. There are times when they would want a boy to try out the clothes, so we would model in them."

Arashi looked up at the ceiling and thought out loud, "I wonder what our lives would be like if we never actually had a crush on Miki or never met her."

Shingo smacked Arashi on the back of the head as if the answer was obvious. Keisuke rolled his eyes when he heard his cousin grunt in pain. Ryu kept silent with the thought of his life being a total nightmare if Miki had never existed. "If we had never met Miki, then we all would've gotten girlfriends," Keisuke said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

Shingo looked away and just shook his head. "If we never met Miki, then I'm afraid I would've committed suicide in eighth grade after the baka left okaa-san and me. And that would have just added more to okaa-san's suffering."

Miki ran right out of the stage, this time wearing something like a summer item of clothing. Last time, she wore a dress, this time she wore pants, the type you would wear to formal parties. She was also wearing a black shirt that with long sleeves, but the top started about an inch from the top of the shoulders. The pants were black and showed her figure slightly while ended at the bottom as bellbottoms. There was a silver chain that looped around the top as a belt. Miki's hair was straightened again, but they were still slightly curled and was designed into a bun, with a curl resting against her cheek. On her face a whole lot less make up than in the beginning, just a bit on her cheeks and her lips were pink. Despite the fact that she didn't wear a whole lot to mask her face, she still looked beautiful to everyone who laid his or her eyes on her.

Ryu, Shingo, Keisuke, and Arashi had their backs towards Miki, so they didn't see her. Everyone else stared in shock again at Miki; having to gather all this attention, caused her face to grow slightly red. Yuu and Kei just couldn't help but think how gorgeous Miki looks, but then again, they still would've considered her to be beautiful, even without the makeup or the clothes Yamato designed. Yamato pointed at Miki and asked his friends, "How's that get up look on Miki?"

They turned around and their jaws fell down. "That's excellent, dude," Arashi shouted, as he ran over to Miki. Keisuke couldn't help but agree with his irrational cousin. Shingo laughed really hard while he watched at how Arashi is suddenly acting like a child and Keisuke was trying his best not to clobber him. Ryu remained where he was standing with a soft look in his green eyes at Miki, while she smiled with a blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks at the attention her friends were giving her.

Kei walked up to Ryu and whispered, "You seem to like Miki a lot." Ryu stared at Kei at the corner of his eyes but glanced back at Miki. "It seems like there are other people who likes Miki as well," he continued. Ryu turned to Kei and was about to ask him, what he meant when someone broke his concentration.

"Ryu-chan! Let's take another group picture!" Miki exclaimed, waving her hand in the air. Ryu was willing to do anything to please Miki so he agreed, even though he desired to ask Kei's explanation to his statement. He handed his camera over to Yuu and walked over to Miki and the others.

Miki looked straight at Yuu and gave him her prized smile; Kei watched as Yuu grinned back at her. Yuu took the picture and handed the camera back to Ryou. "Yuu! Kei-kun! Meiko! Suzu-chan! Miwa-san! Let's take a picture together!" Miki shouted happily.

"Picture?" Meiko asked. Miki nodded her head quickly and pulled everyone together. Everyone watched as Miki called to Ginta and Arimi to come up and take a photograph with them. Ginta took Arimi's hand and they raced over to the staircase, leaving Tsutomu in the seat alone, annoyed that everybody left him behind, Tsutomu chased after his cousin and rushed up to the stage.

Everyone got into position with the girls in front and the boys standing behind them. Miki was standing in one of the middle spots with Meiko by her left side; Arimi was by Miki's other side and Suzu chose to stand next to Meiko. The boys each stood behind a girl, leaving only one boy without a partner. Yuu stood behind Miki with Ginta on his right and Satoshi on his left. Kei chose to remain on Satoshi's free side with Tsutomu out in the open. Seizing this as his chance, Tsutomu stood next to Arimi, only to have her snub him, to his dismay and everyone's delight.

Ryu looked through the camera and started to count to three. He then noticed that Miki's right hand seemed like she was holding something; he peered closer and realized that she was holding Yuu's right hand in her grasp. "I guess that means my suspicion was correct; Miki is in love with Matsuura," he thought.

Ryu was shocked but also disappointed at the thought that he was too late to ask Miki out. "What are you talking about? You were already too late, since the very beginning, baka!" he shouted in his mind, "You knew that Miki loved Ginta since they first met demo you just refused to believe it!"

"Ryu-kun? Daijobu?" Meiko asked. The future director shook his head and glanced at Meiko. "You look a bit preoccupied." Miki also had a concern look in her brown eyes. Ryu quickly replied that he was fine but it didn't extinguish the worried looks on their faces. "Are you sure? I don't think Yamato-kun would mind taking the photo for you," Meiko suggested.

"Daijobu, daijobu," Ryu assured them. He readied the camera and slowly counted to three again. Try as he might, his focus kept on going to the two holding hands. Shingo then realized why his best friend seemed a bit uneasy. The rest of his friends didn't notice Miki's hand embracing Yuu's, so they didn't know what is going on.

As much as Shingo wishes that his suspicion isn't true, but he has to accept it and not interfere with the two's relationship because of a promise that was made to Hideki when he was alive and because he wants Miki to be happy. "_Minna, can you make me a promise? I know you all love Miki very much demo Miki will never think of you more than a brother or friend. So, if Miki gets a boyfriend or falls in love with someone, don't interfere, onegai. I want her to be happy with the person she loves, so let them be_," Hideki's wise and caring voice rang in his mind.

Shingo watched as Meiko suggested letting the stepsiblings take a picture alone. Satoshi pulled Kei and Suzu away so Yuu and Miki can take a photo but themselves. "Hideki, I promised that I'd let Miki love another demo I want to leave my love for her only," Shingo thought. He closed his blue eyes and sighed, "I think everyone wants to keep their love for Miki." He looked at everyone on the stage, but his gaze suddenly turned to Kei and saw him glare at Yuu. "Demo I don't think Tsuchiya would let those two have their relationship. Then again, Suzu-chan probably won't let them continue as well."

Yamato couldn't help but watch as Ryu laugh and took a picture of Yuu lifting Miki up with one arm while she stood by his side. He smiled at how Miki and Yuu interacted the same way Miki and Ginta had when they were in love. "As much as I hate to admit it, Matsuura is perfect for her," he confessed softly, allowing only the cousins to hear. Keisuke and Arashi stared at the beautiful smile on Miki's face and couldn't help but miss the grin they haven't seen for so long. "I think if Hideki was alive, he would've approved of Matsuura being Miki's choice," he concluded.

Yuu brought Miki down and before she could go over to Ryu to see the pictures he had on his digital camera, he held her wrist. Miki turned to Yuu and saw him with a serious look on his face. "Miki, I know that you might cry again because I'm bringing this up demo what happened to Hideki? How did he die?"

Yuu saw the sadness in her eyes and thought that she was going to cry again, but no tears came out this time, it almost seems like she was trying to keep all her tears in so nobody would worry about her again. "If you want to know how Hideki died, just watched the screen," Ryu said. "Turn off the lights, onegai." Yuu turned around to see the lights turned off and only one of the spotlights was on, reflecting off the projection sheet. "I suggest that you all remain sitting at all times, that way you won't fall and hurt yourself."

Knowing that nobody could see in the dark room, Miki leaned her head on Yuu's shoulder after pulling him to sit down. Satoshi looked at Meiko and tried to put his arms around her, but she warned him to keep his hands to himself before walking over to Miki so she could comfort Miki if she starts crying. Suzu clung to Satoshi, as she grew fearful of the dark and silence surrounding the room. Kei, however, sat down by himself where he could watch what Miki and Yuu are doing.

What happened exactly to Hideki? Miki claimed that she killed him but how. What do you think had happened all those years ago?


	8. Ch7Memories of the Past

Ch7-Memories of the Past

Disclaimer: I do not own Marmalade Boy

AN: I was really disappointed in how this story is viewed, despite how people said that they liked it, the number of reviews just seemed so dejecting. I had actually thought about discontinuing the story, but I didn't want to let those who liked it down. So far, it only seemed like there was one review per chapter only. Hopefully the number of reviews would go up.

I had also noticed the same pattern during the rest of my stories. That in the beginning the number of reviews are quite high, but as the chapters go on, the numbers seem to drop. I'm pretty much hoping that that really doesn't happen and that the reviews would eventually come up. Also, many readers may not know this, but the reviews you sent are kinda like fuel to us writers, when we see that you like the story, it makes us want to continue them and if people say that they don't like it then it only makes us want to write better to get their approval. At least, that's how I view it.

Also the style that this story might seem to be quite different from all my other ones. There is a reason for that, you see this is actually the very first story I had actually written, but I had never posted it up. Since I'm more focused on writing my new stories, I was only typing these chapters up and just making sure that the spelling is correct and didn't really try to change much from what I had wrote.

* * *

The five boys sat down next to the desk with Ryu's laptop, as they got ready to reminisce of the most tragic day of their lives. Keisuke opened a box of tissue, knowing that a lot of people will be crying at the end of the show, and slid it across the stage where, to Meiko and Yuu's surprise, Miki caught it as it slid in front of her. The room was silent as everyone stared at the stage like they were in the movie theater.

_Ryu was waiting outside of the school grounds with Shingo; he held his backpack with one hand and his video camera was lying on his shoulder. They were talking when they noticed Miki running through the gates and stopped by the street. "Miki, where are you going?" Shingo asked. Miki turned around with one hand holding her schoolbag and the other a small white gift bag. "We're heading over to Ryu's to practice a new song. You coming over?" he asked._

_Miki smiled apologetically and said, "Gomen nasai demo I can't come today. I need to buy a present for nii-chan's parents; today is oji-san and aba-san's anniversary. Nii-chan can't come either, so can you tell minna for us." Her two friends smiled to show that they understand. Miki bowed slightly and apologized, "Gomen again."_

"_Sure thing, kiddo," Ryu assured. Miki apologized for the third time before turning to the street. "How disappointing, it would've been more fun if she could make it," Ryu whispered, causing Shingo to chuckle._

_Miki looked to both sides of the street and saw that it was deserted, making it safe to cross. Shingo and Ryu watched as she ran across the street and somewhere in the middle, she dropped the gift bag. Miki leaned down to pick it up and the street didn't reveal a single car coming through, so she decided to put the small bag in her book bag._

_While she was doing that, there was a loud crash sound. Everybody who heard it turned his or her head to see a car crashed into a light pole. Miki turned her head and her schoolmates standing around, doing absolutely nothing. "Nani yo, minna? Somebody call an ambulance!" she shouted angrily._

_Just then the car backed out and sped forward towards the unexpected Miki. Alarmed, Shingo and Ryu shouted, "Miki, look out!" Miki slowly turned her head and spotted the car heading in her direction. She stood there with wide brown eyes, like a deer caught in the car's headlight on the road. She could hear people call out her name, but she didn't budge, she kept on staring at the car closing in on her._

_Miki closed her eyes and screamed. Ryu and Shingo were about to run out to the street when they saw Hideki just charge out towards his little sister. "I'll protect you, Miki," Hideki thought to himself. Hoping he could make it before it was too late, Hideki shouted, "Miki, I'm coming!" _

_He ran over to the girl and roughly pushed her aside so she could avoid the collision. Miki fell down at the side and looked up quickly to see Hideki smile gently at her, almost like he's grateful that she's safe and he's accepting the consequence for keeping Miki that way. "You're safe now, Miki," she heard him whisper gently, in his original comforting voice._

_It almost seem like time was slowing down for everyone as they watched in horror at the car; the driver acted like he didn't see Hideki as he drove his car faster, making the vehicle crashed right at Hideki. Hideki rolled over the top of the vehicle as the impact of the crash was heard. The car continued on driving as the dark blonde's body slammed against the asphalt road._

_Every eye was glued to the lifeless body on the road with horrified and shocked glances and the speeding car with a glance of disbelief. An empty glass bottle was thrown out of the window. Shingo grabbed the container and the strong odor from the bottle reached his nose. "The guy's drunk!" Shingo exclaimed in disgust._

_Miki didn't hear with Shingo said because she went on staring at Hideki; Hideki was lying on his side with his back towards Miki and his arms overlapped each other. She couldn't help but gawk at the tattered white shirt and saw through the tears, there were injuries and there was a huge cut someplace hidden by his hair where the blood was coming from. "Nii-chan?" she whispered softly. Miki stood up and slowly walked over to his body, just then, she broke out running to Hideki, screaming, "NII-CHAN!"_

_Shingo dropped the bottle, shattering it, and gave a sorry glance to his crush. Tears came to everyone's eyes, as they watched Miki shake Hideki as if to wake him up. "Nii-chan, onegai. Open your eyes, onegai," Miki pleaded. A teardrop fell from her eyes and onto Hideki's dusty cheeks as she tried to have him open his eyes._

_Miki threw her arms around Hideki and buried her face in his chest; she cried as she thought that her brother is gone and she couldn't even say goodbye to him. Miki felt someone's soft hand brush through her auburn brown hair. "Miki," she heard someone call her name; Miki lifted her head up and saw the blue eyes of her brother and childhood friend as he smiled at her. "Daijobu, Miki?" She smiled when she heard his voice, thinking it is calm and soothing, even at the time of death._

_Miki nodded her head as another tear rolled her cheeks. "Demo what about you, nii-chan? Are you going to be okay?" she asked in a teary voice. She closed her eyes and sensed Hideki's hand rub her tears away; she held his hand to her cheek and felt content to feel the fainting warmth of his skin. "Nii-chan?" she whispered._

"_I don't care what's going to happen to me, just as long as you remain safe," Hideki said. He looked around to see almost every one of their schoolmates surrounds them. When Miki was about to move Hideki so he could sit upright, he stopped her and requested, "Stay, onegai. Your warmth is so comforting. I'm afraid I won't be able to feel like this ever again."_

"_What are you implying, Hideki?" Yamato shouted. He had witnessed the accident in the school building with Arashi and Keisuke so they rushed out of the school but only to realize that they had arrived too late. Yamato stared at his best friend and saw that he was slowly dying. "Don't you think about giving up! Weren't you the one who taught Miki that if you ever always give up, you'd go nowhere in life?"_

"_If you die, think how much this will affect Miki," Keisuke shouted. Miki's shoulders shook as she silently cried on Hideki's chest, listening to his weak heartbeat gradually stopping._

_Miki tightened her grip on Hideki. "Ashiteru, Miki. You made my whole world bright when you became my imoto," he whispered, "You always wore a smile on your face and I want you to continue doing that. I want you to shine everyday with your smile. Promise me, okay?"_

_Miki lifted up her head and said, "Hai, nii-chan. I'll show everyone the smile you loved so much; I'll do it all for you." She squeezed her eyes tightly, forcing all her tears to come out and hugged him tightly. "So, onegai…don't leave me, nii-chan!"_

_Hideki placed his arms around her and embraced her for a few minutes, before turning to Meiko and Ginta. "Meiko-san, Ginta-chan, can you take Miki for a minute? I want to talk to Yamato and the others," Hideki whispered in a hoarse voice. Meiko and Ginta took the reluctant Miki while someone shouted that an ambulance was coming. Hideki motioned his five friends to come closer as he watched Miki crying with Meiko and Ginta trying to comfort her. _

_He slowly reverted his attention to his friends and felt that his time is shortening. "Can you make sure she'll be okay? Not permanently, demo until she calms down. And don't forget to make sure she'll be happy with the one she loves. Minna, onegai, protect her in my place."_

_Arashi smiled and said in a joking manner, "Why are you talking like you're not going to be okay?" Miki listened carefully to the conversation while she clung onto Ginta. "You're going to get better, just wait for the ambulance, they're coming."_

"_Arigato, minna, for being my friends," Hideki whispered with his voice gradually fading. His blue eyes closed leisurely, making Yamato push everyone away from his best friend and screamed for Hideki to keep his eyes open. _

_Miki, Meiko and Ginta eyed the departing teen for a minute and then Miki ran over to him and threw her arms around Hideki, begging him to stay with him. Hideki gently pulled Miki's head toward him to whisper in her ear, "Arigato, Miki. Remember to continue being happy, okay? Ashiteru and be happy with the one you love."_

_Miki felt Hideki's dry lips touch her tear-stained cheek and heard the hand that once was in her hair slam against the road. She stared at his peaceful face and couldn't stand the fact that the young boy she grew up with is gone forever. "Nii-chan?" she whispered. She brought her shaking hands over to his cold face and shouted in pain, "Nii-chan!" She shook him continuously, imploring him to do the impossible now._

_Not a single eye was dry as every one of the schoolmates remembered the young boy who was always helping everyone. Not a day would go by without Hideki tutoring his friends or even strangers with a difficult subject or helping to improve beginners with sports, or helping in the school or out. Hideki always had a bright smile on his face and would remain grinning all day._

"_Miki, he's gone," Shingo told her hesitantly, knowing that she'll never embrace the fact that Hideki is dead. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but only had her shake it off. Shingo felt hurt and disturbed that Miki is in so much pain and he can't do anything to help her when she had done so much to comfort him. "Miki, he's gone," he repeated softly._

_Miki glared at him with a look of anger and hatred, a foreign appearance n her eyes. "He's not gone! Don't you ever say that he's dead!" Miki turned to Hideki's face with calm eyes. "He promised…nii-chan promised he would always be there for me!" She started shaking Hideki again while repeating the same words, "You gave me your word that you would always there be by my side. You promised that and you never broke a promise before." Miki buried her face in his now cold chest and cried while pounding him weakly. "You promised…you promised… you promised."_

_None of Hideki or Miki's friends could pull her from his body, not even the ones closest to her could pry her away from the boy she loved with all her heart. Miki clutched Hideki's body closer to her, hoping to feel the warmth his skin once stored or hear the soothing sound of his heartbeat that never came. All Miki wanted to do was to drown out all the sounds and make everyone, but her and Hideki, disappear. She wished that Hideki would wrap his arms around her and dry her tears, but only to have her cry some more. She waited only to realize that she was denied of that wish. She felt content to be with Hideki and wanted to stay by his side, even when he goes to the other side._

_Meiko and Ginta couldn't help but feel sad that they can't help their best friend. Far away, they could hear the sirens from an ambulance coming closer to the group. When the vehicle was close, the still shocked schoolmates made way for paramedics to come closer. They watched as the two men dressed in white held a stretcher; one of them asked if there was one or two injured people, seeing both Miki and Hideki on the ground and both with their eyes closed._

_Yamato kneeled down and gently shook Miki's shoulder, causing her to stir and open her eyes. "Miki, let go of him," he ordered gently when Miki's brown eyes landed on him. But Miki stared at him like she doesn't understand what he's telling her to do. Yamato knew that Miki would decline his command, but repeated firmly, "Let Hideki go, Miki. These people have to take him to the hospital. Do you understand what I…"_

"_No," Miki whispered. Miki swung her head from side to side rapidly and clutched Hideki tightly again. Her short brown hair grew damp from the tears she shed on the lifeless chest and her brown eyes lost their sparkles. "I won't let you take him away from me too!" she stated, causing everyone to feel disturbed that the young girl who was known to always be happy has now transformed into a distraught and hopeless child._

"_Excuse me, ma'am, demo we have to take him to a hospital quickly," one of the paramedics said. Miki, however, didn't want to be separated from Hideki, not even by death; she refused to release him, making their jobs more difficult. "You have to get her off otherwise it would be too late to save him."_

_Shingo took a deep breath and said calmly, "You're already too late. He was hit by the car almost half an hour ago and he was lying there, dead, for the past ten minutes." _

_He was about to jump on the two of them for coming too late to save his friend, but Arashi and Keisuke held him back. "It's your fault that he's dead! It's the fucking drunk driver's fault too!" he shouted, trying to fight against his friends' grasps._

_Yamato grabbed Miki from behind and pulled her away from Hideki, fully aware that she'll do anything to break away. "Let go of me, Yamato! Let me go!" she shouted. Yamato felt like crying when he tightened his grip on her and as he heard her sob out loud while trying to reach for Hideki's body. Miki watched through her tears as the people dressed in white picked up Hideki's corpse and laid him on the stretcher. While they wheeled him away to the ambulance, Miki began screaming in anguish, "NO! Don't take him away, onegai! Take me with you; don't take nii-chan away from me."_

_Miki finally managed to get out of Yamato's grasp, knocking him down on the road in the process as she ran towards the ambulance. But she had arrived too late, for when she reached the vehicle, the doors were shut closed in her face. Miki banged on the doors, hoping that they'll open them and allow her to get in. "Nii-chan, don't leave me, onegai," she begged, knowing that he never heard those words she pleaded. Miki slid down to her knees, still banging the doors for them to open._

_The ambulance then started driving away, leaving the heartbroken Miki and melancholy crowd of schoolmates behind. Miki screamed out the name she called Hideki ever since they were young. She stumbled a bit as she tried to get up; she chased after the ambulance. Miki stretched out her right hand as she saw the image of Hideki extending his left hand for her to grasp. "Nii…" Miki felt her brown eyes slowly feel drowsy and her strength was gradually leaving her; as she slowly collapsed on the road, she concluded softly, "…chan."_

_Ginta, Meiko, and Yamato shouted out Miki's name after a loud gasp from the crowd, witnessing the collapse, was heard and they ran towards the frail body. Yamato picked Miki up gently and heard her whisper Hideki's real name for the first time in seven years._

"_Stop that ambulance!" Yamato ordered; Ginta, Shingo, Arashi and Keisuke ran to the leaving vehicle while Ryu stayed behind and brought a damp handkerchief to Miki's forehead while Yamato tried to get Miki to wake up._

_Shingo and Ginta managed to jump in front of the car, causing the brakes to be heard as they skid against the road. The driver stuck his head out of the window and shouted at them, "Nani yo? Bakas, do you want to get killed? Get out of the way, kids!"_

"_Can you open the back doors? Miki collapsed," Keisuke asked. The other paramedic looked at the side mirror to see Yamato holding an unconscious Miki in his arms. Getting worried about the next person who needs help, he hurried over to the back and opened the doors to allow them to bring Miki inside. "Yamato, bring Miki over here; they're going to take her to the hospital with Hideki!" Keisuke shouted._

_Yamato and Ryou both smiled for the first time since they witnessed the accident. "Thank goodness," Yamato sighed. He asked Ryu to help him make Miki lean on his back so he could carry her and rush to the vehicle easily. Yamato held onto his love tightly, giving her a piggyback, and ran over to the ambulance, assuring the sleeping girl that everything will be all right._

_As the paramedic placed Miki in the same stretcher, next to Hideki, he heard Miki slowly whisper, "Nii-chan…stay with me…onegai." He stared at her and felt sorry that this young girl is suffering a whole lot more than he had anticipated and didn't allow her to come aboard earlier._

"_Can we come with you?" He turned to see Ryu and Yamato stare at him with begging eyes. "I know that you won't let us demo onegai_,_maybe we can help Miki if she wakes up," Ryu asked._

_The man knew that he would be violating the rules, but he felt sorry for the boys, who he could tell, love Miki and Hideki and were worried about them. "Alright, demo only one of you can come along," he said, giving in to his sympathy._

"_Arigato," Ryu said. He turned to the group of friends and his eyes spotted Ginta and thought to himself, "During a time like this, Miki needs someone she loves to be by her side." He then shouted, "Hey, Ginta, why don't you go with Miki and make sure she stays all right?"_

_Ginta looked shocked to the suggestion but his concern for Miki's health caused him to agree. Ginta hurriedly stepped into the ambulance and the white doors closed the minute he sat down. Everyone watched as the vehicle drove away with the three friends towards the hospital, losing one life while saving another._

_Yamato and his friends turned around to face the immense group of seventh, eighth and ninth graders. "Those who aren't really close friends of Hideki and Miki may go home. I doubt the hospital will allow the whole school to go see those two," Yamato instructed. "We'll report on what happened at the hospital during the announcement tomorrow." _

_A few people from the crowd walked away to head home but there was still a large group still lingered in front of the junior high school, all too anxious to go home and wait for tomorrow to hear the news. "Go home and get some rest, you're all probably exhausted as well from witnessing the accident. I know Miki never liked to have people feeling pity for her; so if she sees all of, she'll probably break down even more."_

_The massive crowd listened to Yamato's reason and soon disintegrated from several hundreds of schoolmates to a much smaller number. Keisuke counted the amount of the remaining people in his head. He turned his head to Yamato and said, "There's thirty people here…that's still too much."_

"_Thirty is okay," Shingo assured, "Let's grab a bus and hurry over to the hospital." Shingo walked forward and soon noticed Meiko clutched her hands tightly, hoping that Ginta would take good care of Miki. Shingo became aware that Meiko was feeling very tense. He walked over to her and whispered, "Let's head over to the clinic and help Miki overcome this. We know better than anyone that Hideki's death is affecting her a whole lot more than what most people suspect."_

_Meiko looked at Shingo and nodded her head. "Let's go to the hospital and cheer Miki up, minna." She smiled as if nothing had happened, but everyone knew that Meiko was devastated in the inside. Meiko started off to the nearest bus stop that was a few blocks away._

_People on the streets watched as a group of thirty-six junior high students with teary expressions on their faces rush over to the bus stop. Orihara Yamato, Motosuwa Ryu, Motomiya Shingo, Lee Keisuke, Kou Arashi, and Akizuki Meiko were in the lead, hoping that Ginta would bring news of a miracle that the doctors were able to revive Hideki back to life. Everyone knew that they might look somewhat of a fright but they were all worried about a friend's life that may be hanging by a thread._

_Meiko sat down on the seats provided at the bus stop while she was trying to catch her breath; she placed a hand over her heart and felt it pounding against her chest like a drum in a parade. "Is the bus coming?" she asked, taking a small pause between each word to catch her breath. Meiko looked up to see all the other students staring out into the road, ignoring her question._

_The brunette brushed her hand through her straight hair, annoyed that everyone isn't paying attention to her question. Ryu peered down the street and saw the green top of the white bus heading their way. "It's here! The bus is coming!" he shouted._

_Yamato helped pull Meiko to her feet and hurried over to the closed white and green doors of the automobile. The moment the doors opened to let the people board on and off the automobile, Meiko allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks and climbed up the steps of the bus. Yamato knew that the driver and people along for the ride, wondering what happened to get her so worked up, are staring at Meiko. Yamato pushed up his spectacles and tried to have Meiko calm down and sat her down on a chair up front._

_Shingo bowed his head to the driver and said, "I mean no disrespect, demo can all of your customers get off the bus?" The driver looked at Shingo with a puzzled look and he immediately knew that this guy thinks he's crazy. Shingo, not being able to contain his anger, shouted, "It's an emergency!"_

"_Look, kid, I don't know what you're selling, demo you must be out of your mind," the driver said. He jumped up when Shingo took a step forward with his fist ready to make contact to his face. The driver looked at Shingo's face and grew confused to see that he wasn't mad at the insult, just upset that the he didn't do as he was asked._

_Ryu placed his hand on Shingo's shoulder right before he tried to lunge at the driver and told him to calm down. Shingo glared at his best friend with the same look of anger that Miki had once extinguished not even a year ago and said in a shaky voice, "Calm down? You think this is a good time to calm down?" The moment Ryu opened his mouth, Shingo began to burst back into the enraged teenager he was when he found out what his father did to his mother in eighth grade. "Hideki is dead! And right now, Miki is suffering with all of this and I can't even help her."_

_A tear fell down his brown eyes and everyone spotted it as it fell down his cheek. Shingo enclosed his hands into tight fights and shouted, "It's not fair, she stood by me when I was upset and she made me feel like I can live again." An image of Miki smiling while saying that she'll be there for Shingo if he ever needed her flashed in his mind. Shingo's entire body started to shake as he continued speaking, "Demo right now, she's the one in pain and there's nothing I can do for her."_

_The driver, along with the passengers, stared at Shingo and saw that he was trying to restrain his anger but was slowly giving in to his rage. Meiko stood up, walked over to the driver and looked straight into his eyes. "Onegai, my best friend is now at the hospital and I want to be there for her." Teardrops fell down one after another as she continued to plead, "We first lost Hideki when he tried to save Miki's life and we don't want to lose her too."_

_Everyone on the bus was shocked to hear that an accident had happened not too far from here and two students were taken to the hospital. Proud to see that a lot of people are trying to support their classmates, the passengers willingly left the bus so they can make room for the junior high students. They watched, as they stood outside of the bus pulling away, at the students opening the window and shouted their thanks to them._

_The bus ride to the general hospital was very quiet, making the man driving think that everyone on the bus were ghosts and had vanished. When he stopped at a red light, he turned around, thinking that the bus was empty, but saw the amount of students is still there. He watched them for a few seconds as they were quiet and kept on staring into space._

"_Whoever this Miki and Hideki is, they sure are important to these children," he thought as he continued on driving to the clinic. After riding on the grave, silent journey to the clinic for the next ten uneasy minutes, the bus finally made it to a white stone building._

_The bus stopped right in front of the tall grayish-white building. The driver opened the doors and everyone on board thanked the man, filed out of the vehicle and rushed into the hospital. "Such good friends they are," the driver thought as he pulled the bus away, "This girl, Miki, must be pretty lucky to have a lot of people care about her."_

_As the bus was leaving the parking lot, the crows frantically searched the waiting room for Ginta. Meiko walked ahead to examine the hallways and spotted a slouched figure a few feet away. Meiko narrowed her brown eyes and recognized the school uniform; she was shocked to see Ginta sitting out in the corridors with his face buried in his hands and Miki was nowhere to be found._

"_Ginta!" Meiko wanted to shout at the top of her lungs, "What are you doing here? Where's Miki?" She clutched her hands together and prayed that Miki was all right and remains that way. But her prayers proved that they weren't heard when the door to the right of Ginta burst open and Ginta's head shot upward._

_Clad in a white hospital gown, Miki ran out and leaned against the opposite wall. Ginta stood up and slowly walked to her, he could hear her heavy breathing and was able to tell that she was crying for a long time, even in her sleep. "Miki, daijobu?" Ginta asked gently._

_Miki slowly turned around and stared at Ginta with her now red eyes. "Gin…ta?" Miki whispered tearfully; she hoped that the news he would tell her might bring back the faith she had lost. But when she saw him look at the floor with eyes closed, Miki realized that the news was the same, Hideki is dead and he won't ever return._

"_No, no, no, NO!" she softly started, but ended up screaming the last word. Ginta apologized about the distressing news but Miki knew that he wasn't the one who should be saying sorry, it's her. It's her fault that is gone; he died saving HER life._

_Miki caught the attention of a doctor walking in the hallway with her screaming. He watched as Miki ran back into the room from where she came out of and Ginta grabbing her arm, trying to calm her down. Ginta held onto Miki's hand and she kept swinging her arm around to get him to let go. "He can't do this to me. HE CAN'T!" Miki shouted, "Nii-chan!"_

"_Miki, calm down, would ya?" Ginta asked as he adjusted his grip and hugged Miki from behind. "I know you're upset demo there's nothing we can do for him."_

_Just then Miki stopped struggling, causing Ginta to think that she had now relaxed. He then noticed that Miki was breathing a whole lot harder than before and she seemed to be growing heavy. Miki was trying her best to stay awake, but she started to feel exhausted, more and more as each second went by. Miki closed her eyes, thinking that she would open them again, only to find herself collapse in Ginta's arms._

"_Miki! Miki, daijobu?" Ginta shouted. The doctor rushed over to Ginta from one said and the group of anxious schoolmates came from the other. Ginta laid Miki's head on his shoulder and he lifted her up in his arms as the doctor directed him to Miki's room._

_Everyone spied inside of the room as the doctor left the door open. They watched as Ginta gingerly placed the slumbering girl on the bed and stepped away so the physician could see if she'll be okay. Patients and nurses passing by stared at the large crows as they passed the room in the hallway; the junior high students listened eagerly as the doctor checked to see if Miki has a high temperature or if her condition was all right._

_Meiko leaned against the silver steel doorframe and called out Ginta's name. Ginta turned to her and gazed at her with a pair of tired and worried eyes. "Is Miki going to be okay?" she asked. Her only response from the boy was a shake of his head, indicating that he doesn't know the answer. Meiko sighed with everyone else looking away, either to the ceiling, floor, or walls._

_The doctor placed a stethoscope on Miki's chest to find the rate of her heartbeat. Her heart was slowly pounding against her chest and gradually lowered the speed until it reached a point where it indicated that she had calmed down. "She's relaxing now," he said tranquilly._

_He checked her temperature and saw that is was normal. "She doesn't have a fever," he concluded. The doctor looked at the anxious audience and said in a cheerful and soothed tone, "Koishikawa-san will be alright. She just needs some rest and she'll be able to go home tomorrow."_

"_So who is her onii-chan? And what happened to him to cause this girl to be so worked up?" the doctor asked after leading Ginta out of the room and closing the door. He sat down on the chairs and watched as the group of teenagers looked at each other and waited for them to begin._

_Ryu took out a recent picture he took of Miki and Hideki and showed it to him. "That's Tsukishiro Hideki and Koishikawa Miki; they're not really siblings demo they knew each other all their lives and have a strong bond like most brothers and sisters have. Right after school ended today, Miki was crossing the street when a car was about to hit her. Hideki rushed out and saved her life. The car continued to drive as if nothing had even happened, as if Hideki was just air."_

_The man stared at the picture in his hand and was shocked to see two people so happy just by being near each other. When he heard that Hideki didn't survive the accident and Miki is taking the blow really hard and collapsed right before the ambulance was about to leave the block, his eyes widened in shock and sadness. He looked at the group with understanding eyes and was proud to see the concern and they showed for Miki._

"_She'll be okay. Koishikawa-san is just exhausted and collapsed from the stress she received from the accident. Why don't you go home before your parents start worrying about where you went?" He called over a passing nurse and asked her to request a bus to take the children home and he'll pay for the admission._

_When the schoolmates were about to leave, four parents ran through the hallway, screaming their children's names. "Yamato-kun," Jin shouted when he caught sight of his daughter's friend, "Where's Miki and Hideki-kun?"_

_Yamato looked to the door and said, "Miki's in there, demo Hideki never made it." Sakana and Tai's faces darkened from the distress news as they stared at Yamato, who was crying for the first time since the accident. "He…he died minutes before the ambulance reached us."_

_Sakana's knees shook and finally gave way as she leaned against her husband and started to cry. "No, not my son," she sobbed, clinging to Tai, who looked as if he was about to break down himself._

_Tai looked up and asked, "Where's Miki-chan?" Yamato pointed to the door, resulting that Rumi and Jin ran inside to see their daughter sleeping. "Can we see our son?" he asked the doctor._

_The doctor nodded his head and led the parents to the room where Hideki's body laid. Everybody looked at each and other and wondered who called the parents to come and all eyes came upon Ginta, who was just staring into space. "Ginta, did you call their parents?" Tetsuya asked._

_Ginta shook his head and replied that a nurse did. "She asked me what were their names and the phone numbers so she could contact their parents," he answered._

"_Well, it seems like their parents are here, so we better head home ourselves," Shingo said. Moaning, everyone followed Shingo and Yamato as a nurse told them all that a bus was up front. _

_Ryu stayed behind and just peered into the room where Miki and her parents were. He watched with sad eyes as Rumi and Jin tried to get Miki to stop crying, even in her dreams, the death of Hideki caused her pain. He turned around and ran over to his friends and just wished that everything was just a nightmare and he'll wake up soon with Miki and Hideki walking to school together like they had done since the beginning of their school lives years ago._

_Ryu walked to school the next day with his friends by his side. "I'm so tired, I didn't get to sleep a wink last night after what had happened," Shingo said. Ryu silently agreed and believed that Miki may be suffering from the same problem._

_Suddenly Yamato stopped, causing the rest to bump right into his back. "Ow!" Arashi shouted, rubbing his nose; he looked at Yamato and continued, "What's the matter with you?"_

_Yamato just pointed to the front of the school and everybody's stomach just dropped when they saw a large group of reporters crowding the front of the wall, reporting the news of the accident that had claimed Hideki's life. Yamato turned to his friends and whispered, "I don't feel like talking about Hideki and Miki, so lets just hurry up to the school. If they start to ask us questions, run for it."_

_Agreeing with Yamato, everybody nodded their heads and started to walk towards the school. They all sighed when they caught sight of the journalists asking Ginta questions. Just as they were about to leave him to be fed to the sharks, Keisuke and Shingo began to feel guilty leaving him there by himself. _

_They slowly walked to Ginta, who was still dazed from yesterday's events making him not processing what is going on; the last thing he realized was that Keisuke and Shingo had grabbed him by the wrists and pulled him to the school. Ginta searched the environment and saw two of his friends were hurrying him into the school and a group of reporters were shouting to get him to come back, but they were unable to do anything because they weren't allowed to step foot into the school so they could harass the other students._

_The day soon finished quickly, as everybody had wished for they didn't want to spend a lot of time where bad memories was stalking. Throughout the entire school day, they were reminded of the accident concerning with Hideki's death and Miki being in the hospital. At the exact moment when the school released everybody to go home or to be fed to the reporters, crowding around the front gate, seven friends met together and decided to head over to the dreaded place where the final hopes of the Hideki maybe coming back to life was diminished._

_In each other's company, Meiko, Ginta, Yamato, Shingo, Ryu, Arashi, and Keisuke all raced over to the bus stop that'll take them straight to the hospital. As they reached the clinic, they hurried over to the room where Miki was staying and peered in to see their friend crying with her parents hugging her tightly._

"_Miki!" Meiko shouted as she raced over to her best friend's side. The sobbing brunette looked up and whispered the running girl's name. They fell into each other's embrace and Meiko tried to comfort her._

_Meiko's own brown eyes began to dampen as she listened to Miki whispering in a broken up words, "Why? Nii…chan i…is gone. I…it's all…all my fault. He…he's d…dead." _

The projection was stopped right there and the sounds of nose being blown into tissues were heard throughout the room. Yuu looked to his side and saw Miki dabbing her eyes with a tissue and sighing sadly as Meiko was rubbing her hand against her eyes.

"After that incident, the cheerful young girl known as Koishikawa Miki became a girl surrounded by depression," Ryu said in a loud voice. Everybody saw pictures of Miki was a small frown on her face and a faraway look in her eyes as she just stared at an unfocused point ahead of her. "She also began to do bad in things she was so good at," he continued.

_ Miki was standing in front of a stove and was stirring a wooden spoon in a pot. She sighed as she poured a little into a small bowl and sipped from it. A distasteful expression went on her face as she spilled the rest of the contents into a sink. Without looking, she set the bowl down and missed the counter; the plate crashed against the floor, sending glass in all direction._

_The doors opened and Ryu immediately ran into the kitchen. "Miki?" he said worriedly, making sure she was all right. Miki didn't answer and just stood there as Arashi entered the room with a concern look on his face. Ryu walked over to her side, lifted her frail body into his arms and cautiously walked passed the broken glass pieces and set her down on a table near the wall. Ryu wiped the tear that slowly fell down her cheek and asked, "Miki, daijobu?"_

_Arashi grabbed a broom and cleaned the floor of the broken bowl pieces. He listened attentively to the broken up tone of Miki, "I lost it…I lost one of the gifts nii-chan helped me learn." As he threw the glass into the garbage bin, Arashi heard Ryu ask what gift did she mean. "When nii-chan was alive, I was able to cook okay; it wasn't the best demo it always tastes all right. I tried to cook something, just to cheer myself up, demo I just made it worst."_

_Arashi glanced over to the soup and tasted a small morsel; not realizing that Miki was staring at him, the expression on his face resembled him trying to eat a whole lemon. "I can't believe I lost it…one of nii-chan's gifts, one of the things he taught me with his heart. Even Arashi agrees that my cooking worsened," she whispered._

_Miki covered her face with her hands and cried as Ryu glared at the brunette for making matters worst than it already is. "Miki, don't you think that maybe you're overreacting a bit? It's been two months since Hideki's funeral, it's possible that you just weren't trying hard enough," Ryu said, trying to comfort the crying girl. He glared at his friend and continued, "Arashi doesn't think that your cooking sucks, ne, Arashi?"_

_Arashi smiled awkwardly and said, "I think I hear Keisuke calling me. I'll be back in a few minutes." And with that, he ran out so he could escape from the raging anger of the dragon._

_Ryu sighed and listened to the sobs and sighed. "Miki…I'm sure it's nothing serious," he said. He placed a hand under her chin and lifted it up so he could see her face. "Everything will all right, so stop crying," he said before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead._

"_Demo…demo if I can't cook anymore, it might mean that I also forgot the other things nii-chan taught me," Miki complained. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and said, "What if all those things that you guys taught me also vanishes? I'll just end up losing the things that made all of us closer together throughout the years."_

_Ryu hugged Miki and whispered, "Don't say something like that, Miki. The only way you'll lose that amazing talent of yours is if you give up. Isn't that what Hideki taught you? What did Hideki tell you?"_

"_That if I ever give up, then I'll never go far in life. That the only way for me to follow my heart and dreams, is to continue on despite what everyone else says," Miki replied. She brought a hand up and rubbed her eyes._

_Ryu nodded his head and asked, "Why don't you show me that smile Hideki loved more than anything in the entire world?" Slowly a small grin came on her face, but Ryu shook his head and said, "You could do a whole lot better than that, Miki." Seeing that she might need a little help, Ryu immediately tickled Miki on her sides, causing an extremely ticklish teenager to laugh and her smile to expand. _

"_That's better. Miki, I want you to know that nothing will ever change the fact that Hideki's gone, but that doesn't mean that the gifts he blessed the world when he came vanished as well. I'm sure that right now, he's watching over you, making sure that you're living each day to your fullest right until it's your turn to pass over," Ryu said softly._

_Miki hugged Ryu and whispered, "Arigato, Ryu-chan." She pulled back and smiled brightly. "Nii-chan was right about saying that you guys were the best friends anybody could ask for." _

_Ryu patted her head lightly like she was a little kid and suggested, "How about some ice cream? I'm sure Sakura and Kenji would love to spend more time with you; they've been asking for you to come over for a long time." Miki nodded her head and agreed with a grin on her face. _

_ "Miki, are you finished staring at the mirror already?" Keisuke asked. He fell back against the sofa and sighed as the entire group was watching the teenager staring at herself in the mirror. "You've been staring at mirror for almost a half hour. We were supposed to head over to Yamato's folk's place to try out the clothes they made and help them create advertisements."_

_Miki turned to the boys and asked, "Am I really kawaii?"_

"_Huh?" The five friends looked at each other and then back at her. "What are you talking about?" they asked at the same time._

_Turning back to the mirror, Miki laid a pointer finger on her right cheek and explained, "Nii-chan had always told me that I was kawaii demo I'm starting to believe that he was saying that just to make me feel special. There were times when I actually thought that he really didn't mean it, though."_

_Yamato stood behind her and laid both hands on her shoulders. He leaned down until his chin almost on her left shoulder. "Why are you always putting yourself down, Miki? Hideki said that you were kawaii, then why don't you trust in his words?" he asked._

_He turned Miki around and smiled cheerfully. "Perhaps later on in the future, you'll end up being the most popular girl in school," he said, teasing the younger girl in front of him._

_Miki turned to look at Yamato with a sad smile on her face. "I highly doubt that I could be popular. The only one who would be popular would be Meiko. She's so much prettier and more sophisticated than me; that might just end up drawing everyone's attention to her. She's the type of girl who might get all the handsome guys as suitors."_

_Shingo playfully punched Miki on the back of her head. He laughed and joked, "Perhaps the way you act like a child might end up drawing guys towards you." Shingo grabbed Miki's right hand and Yamato took the other. "I'm sure within time, you'll find somebody you like and he'll feel the same way about you," he added with a more serious tone._

_Miki looked down to the floor and whispered, "I hope so." And all together, the six friends walked out of the building with smiles on their faces. It almost seemed as if the accident had never happened._

"It did happen, though, Miki had finally gathered enough courage to tell someone dear to her and confessed her feelings. However, the events had almost ended disastrous. This is something that not even Meiko and Ginta knows about," Yamato said through the microphone.

Yuu felt Miki's shoulders tense underneath his arm. "So, they're going to show it, after all," he heard Miki whisper in a soft tone. Yuu looked down at Miki and wasn't able to actually see her face, but he could imagine the sadness she had portraying on her face.

_ Ginta was sitting on top of a desk, talking with some friends. One of them called out his name, causing him to turn his head and attention to the teen. "Where'd you put my magazine?" he asked._

"_It's in my bag," Ginta replied, turning back to his group of friends. His eyes showed a faraway look as he thought back to the small present he had given Miki the day before._

_His friend took the magazine out of the bag and a white envelope fell out of the book. "A love letter! It's for Ginta!" he exclaimed. He turned the envelope over and shouted, "From Miki!"_

_Ginta looked at his friend as the other guys all gasped and ran to read the letter the girl they all had a crush on write her confession of love for their friend. His brown eyes shook with words he thought he never would've heard from his best friend as he listened to his friend reading the letter and then grew embarrassed when they all looked at him._

_He felt his face turn red from the attention everyone was giving him. "Ginta, I thought you told us that there was nothing going on between you and Miki," the boy, who read the letter, stated with a smirk on his face._

_Ginta looked away and said, "Naw, I don't feel that way towards her. She's too much of a tomboy for me." It was then he looked up and his eyes widened when he saw that Miki was standing right outside of the doorway and had heard every word that came out of his mouth._

_Miki's brown eyes began to slowly flow with tears, sending great feelings of regret and pain colliding into Ginta's chest. He jumped off the desk and tried to apologize, but Miki had already run out of the school building. Ginta was about to chase after her when he felt a tight grip on his shoulder._

_The brunette turned his head to see Ryu with a serious look on his face. "Ginta, maybe it would be best if you stay away from Miki. Until she feels better, that is," Ryu said. He jogged over to the door and turned back to Ginta. "Don't worry about a thing, Ginta. We'll look after her." And with that, Ryu ran out of the school to try to catch up to Miki and with his back facing towards Ginta, he didn't see him fall to the ground._

_Ryu hurried over to the place where he knows he'll find Miki. Whenever Miki grew upset about something, most of the times, she would head over to the park to the section where roses and other flowers would bloom. That place seemed to be the only location where Miki could cheer up since she spent a lot of time there when she was younger with Hideki before his death._

_He spotted Miki kneeling on the edge of the street, hiding her face on top of her bag. Ryu walked closer to Miki and spotted that Yamato had already reached her side. As he took each step closer to Miki and Yamato, he could hear the blue-eyed blonde asking Miki what was wrong._

"_Ginta…Ginta…" Miki muttered, lifting her head up. Yamato looked shocked as he saw the same expression she had on her face when Hideki was killed._

"_Maybe it'll be best if we took her to the clubhouse, Yamato," Ryu said, scaring both his friends. They turned their heads and stared at him as if he was a ghost. He forced a soft smiled and added, "If we don't get moving, we're going to attract a lot of attention."_

_Miki nodded her head and held onto Yamato's hand as she stood up gradually. Walking together to the clubhouse by Ryu's home, Miki kept strolling as if she had became a soulless doll. Her distant brown eyes were cast to the floor and her hands were limb with Ryu and Yamato keeping a strong grip so she couldn't get away._

_Miki seemed to be in a trance the entire time. When she broke out of the daze, she realized that she was sitting on a couch and that Ryu was telling everyone there what had happened. Everyone from Yamato to Keisuke was shocked to discover that Ginta had rejected Miki, but they all knew that it was inevitable._

_Being in Miki's fan club, means that there are certain deals that were made. The first and foremost important one was that nobody is to confess his feelings towards Miki and be the first to take her kiss or take her on a date. Everybody in the club knew that Miki had feelings for Ginta and he felt the same way, but the rules Ryu created was done so nobody would fight to proclaim that their feelings for Miki was the strongest. Not to mention that he didn't want Miki to become confuse with all the large number of people admitting that they like her all at the same time._

_Keisuke punch his left hand and muttered, "I didn't believe that this could cause so much damage. Who could've thought that one little agreement would make this happen."_

"_It's okay," Miki whispered. The boys looked at Miki as she continued to look down to her hands that were fidgeting on her lap. She cracked a weak smile and said in a breaking tone, "I should've known that Ginta wouldn't think about me that way. He probably likes girls who are much more smarter and beautiful."_

_She looked up and tried to keep the smile on her face as tears were threatening to come out. "I could never…I could never be the type of person who Ginta would fall in love with," she added. "I've known about it all my life. There's never going to be someone who'll love me as if his entire world would disappear if I'm gone."_

_Arashi sat down on the black couch and brushed his thumb against her cheek, causing her to blink the tears out of her eyes. "You shouldn't say that, Miki. You know, there are times when someone you love may never really feel the exact same way," he said softly, "Perhaps sometime in the future, you'll find someone a whole lot better than Ginta."_

"_That could never happen. If Ginta rejected me, then someone who's better than him, would never feel the exact same way," Miki said._

"_Miki, why don't we head out into the garden for some fresh air?" Ryu asked. Miki nodded her head and stood up. Ryu crossed his arms over his chest and grinned, "Great, let's head out then."_

_The boys all walked out of the doorway with Miki following them slowly. However, Miki didn't exit the clubhouse, instead she closed the door and locked it. The boys turned their heads back to the door when they heard a slamming sound._

_They all ran towards the entrance and Keisuke banged on the door. "Miki, open the door! Miki!" he shouted. All they could hear was silence, except for the sobbing on the other side of the door._

_Ryu ran to another door and opened it to reveal a television that shows what was happening inside the locked room. Everybody crowded around TV and watched as Miki ran across the room to the wall where Hideki's picture was hanged up. Ryu pushed a button and made the volume go up and they listened to Miki yelling at Hideki at how he actually broke his promise that they'll always be together._

"_You're gone from my life when you swore that that would never happen. How could you…HOW COULD YOU BREAK YOUR PROMISE?" she shouted. She slid down on the floor and hid her face in her hands and said miserably, "Minna…minna is leaving me. First you, then Ginta, and then it would be everybody else."_

"_Maybe nobody really liked me. Maybe they pretended to be my friend so they wouldn't hurt my feelings. I'm probably just a nuisance to minna, perhaps everything would be better if I never existed at all."_

_The boys' felt their heart stop as they listened to the suicidal thought. Worried about Miki, Yamato ran out of the room and tried to pry the door open. Arashi went to assist him as the others continued to watch to keep the two updated. Ryu then pushed the other two to help Yamato and Arashi out and turned to the television._

_His eyes widened as he watched Miki grab a thin blanket from the closet and tried to tie it to a beam near the ceiling. "Guys, you better hurry! I think Miki's trying to hang herself!" Ryu ran out of the room and grabbed an ax from a nearby shed and handed it to Yamato, who quickly chopped the door down._

"_Miki!" the boys all shouted as they ran into the room. Miki looked at them with teary eyes and quickly turned her head. Ignoring them, she proceeded to loop her head through the hole, but before she could kick the support away, the boys grabbed the chair and tried to bring the struggling girl down._

_Miki was crying hysterically as the guys tried to get her to calm down. Remembering the slightly blunt knife was still on the table from before, Miki pushed the five out of her way and headed to the table. Before she could manage to grab the blade, Yamato had grabbed Miki's arms and pulled her away as Keisuke took the knife and threw it into a drawer._

_Yamato turned Miki around and shouted, "What were you thinking? Just what was going through your mind, Miki?" Miki shook her head and continued to cry silently. "Miki, I know you're upset, demo it doesn't give you an excuse to go and kill yourself."_

_Miki whispered, "What does it matter?" Yamato's blue eyes widened as he listened to the hopelessness in her voice, completely different from the always-confident girl he loved. "I just seem to be a nuisance to minna."_

"_Don't say that, Miki. You know it's not true," Arashi said softly, trying to make her train of self-put downs end, but, unfortunately, it didn't work._

_Miki shook her head gently. "You're just saying that, demo I know that you didn't like me."_

_Yamato clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth as he continued to listen to Miki go on with her doubts. Not being able to contain his anger anymore, Yamato grabbed Miki and faced her to him; what he did was something unexpected, he just slapped Miki on the face with a serious expression on his face. His blue eyes registered the shocked appearance on everybody's faces around him and he looked at the red mark on her cheek. _

_His strict facial expression changed to a much softer look as he embraced Miki tightly and he whispered, "Gomen demo…don't say things like that onegai. We love you Miki and not a day goes by without you brightening up our days. I know that you could never have anyone fully replace Hideki in your heart demo…" Yamato swallowed his pride and pulled Miki away and finished his sentence, "…I'm willing to let you think of me as a substitute."_

_Miki gazed with a puzzled look in her eyes as she stared through his blue eyes, trying to figure out what he meant, but she came up with nothing. Her head leaned to one side as she stared at Yamato, who continued to hold that gentle gaze in his eyes. "You know how Hideki loved it whenever you called him 'nii-chan'?" he asked. Miki nodded her head lightly, wondering where the conversation was heading to, as his friends all wondered if Yamato was completely losing his mind. "I would be honored if you'll accept me as another brother."_

_Miki's eyes widened as she realized what he meant, with tears beginning to come out of their hiding place. Without her knowledge, Miki's lips whispered softly, "Anaki." Throwing herself into Yamato's arms, she started to cry all over again, whispering, "Anaki" over and over again._

_Yamato hugged Miki tightly, trying to calm her down as he brushed his right hand through her hair with his left wrapped around her waist. He looked up to see his friends' questioning eyes asking him, "Are you sure about this, Yamato?" He nodded his head in response, his mind tells him that he could live his life this way, but his heart was telling him that no matter what, he would still love Miki, as a sister or not. _

What do you think? When I was thinking about writing this, I practically burst into tears about Hideki's death. How do you view this chapter? Send me some reviews please.


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